"fWICEjiORN" 


Twice  Born; 

OR,  THE 

TWO  LIVES 

OF 

HENRY  O.  WILLS, 

EVANGELIST. 

BEING  A  NARRATIVE  OF  MR.  WILLS'S  REMARKABLE  EXPERI- 
ENCES AS  A  WHARF-RAT,  A  SNEAK-THIEF,  A  CONVICT, 
A  SOEDIER,  A  BOUNTY-JUMPER,  A  FAKIR,  A  FIRE- 
MAN, A  WARD-HEEI<ER,  AND  A  PIv'JG-UGI,Y. 
ALSO, 

A  HISTORY  OF  HIS  MOST  WONDROUS  CONVERSION  TO  GOD, 
AND  OF  HIS  FAMOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS  AS 
AN  EVANGEIvIST. 


CINCINNATI : 
printed  for  the  author 
At  the  Western  Methodist  Book  Concern. 
1890, 


Copyright  by 
HENRY  O.  WILLS, 
1890. 


Dedication. 


secor^ei.  life 

lea^^^iiEiQ  facts  £\i^g[  expepier\ces  Yf\j 
k-fe,  to  JiypEx  Jiis 
t\.0lry  e^Hse. 

HENRY  O.  WILLS. 


4 


HENRY  O.  WII^IvS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/twicebornortwoliOOwill 


PREFACE. 


Why  have  I  written  this  book? 
Because  I  want  money. 
For  what  purpose? 

To  make  an  effort,  by  the  grace  and  under 
the  direction  of  God,  at  demonstrating  the  uses 
to  which  He  intended  money  should  be  applied. 

What  are  those  uses  ? 

As  He  has  revealed  them  to  me,  any  measures, 
however  crudely  or  with  whatever  elaborateness 
they  may  be  prosecuted,  which  have  the  salva- 
tion of  mankind  and  the  glorification  of  His 
holy  kingdom,  are  proper  uses  to  which  to  apply 
money. 

How  do  I  hope  to  accomplish  such  ends 
through  the  publication  of  this  volume? 

Because  I  have  faith  that  the  story  it  tells 
will  bring  to  others  now  in  the  clutches  of  the 
devil,  the  new  and  beautiful  life  which,  praise 
God,  has  been  bestowed  on  me. 


8 


PREFACE. 


Because  I  have  faith  in  God's  love  of  business. 
He  helps  those  who  help  themselves. 

No  man  has  a  right  to  ask  for  or  expect  to  get 
something  for  nothing. 

I  want  money  to  enable  me  to  enlarge  my 
work  and  ability  to  do  service,  and  I  do  n't  want 
to  get  that  money  in  a  way  which  would  be  un- 
fair to  God  or  man.  Believing  that  this  volume — 
solely  for  the  lessons  it  presents — is  worth  full 
value  of  all  that  is  asked  for  it,  and  confident  that 
through  God — not  through  Wills,  mind  you — 
it  will  prove  of  direct  value  to  each  reader,  I 
herewith  submit  it  without  further  apology,  so 
far  as  myself  and  my  venture  are  concerned. 

In  beginning  this  first  book-making  venture, 
I  want  to  place  myself  squarely  with  the  reader  % 
by  saying,  that,  while  I  am  the  author  of  the 
work,  I  did  not  do  the  editing.  That  has  been 
done  by  a  friend  who,  knowing  both  the  old 
Wills  and  the  new  Wills,  was  sufficiently  inter- 
ested in  the  latter  to  undertake  the  work  of  pre- 
paring my  manuscript  for  publication.  "  His 
chief  regret,"  as  he  said,  "viewing  the  enter- 
prise both  from  religious  and  business  stand- 
points, is  that  it  was  not  practicable  to  present 


PREFACE.  9 

the  story  in  facsimiles  of  the  original  mann- 
script."  Therefore,  in  his  behalf  I  desire  to  say 
that  but  little  else  has  been  done  by  him  than  to 
tie  together  in  consecutive  form,  the  material  I 
have  furnished.  That  my  manuscript  showed 
neither  graceful  diction  or  elegant  chirography 
is  not  strange,  when  it  is  considered  that  I  am, 
as  everybody  knows,  not  an  educated  man,  as  to 
book-learning.  The  only  book  about  which  I 
profess  to  have  some  knowledge  is  God's  own 
Book,  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  that  I  know  of  that, 
has  been  revealed  to  me  by  His  gracious  good- 
ness within  the  past  seven  years. 

Thus  much  explanatory  will  set  us  right  as 
to  the  character  of  this  volume  ;  and  now,  as  you 
are  about  to  read  of  a  man  once  a  sinner,  and 
almost  hopeless  in  his  devotion  to  the  devil,  I 
may  be  pardoned,  I  hope,  for  introducing  copies 
of  a  few  of  my  most  highly  prized  testimonials. 

HENRY  O.  WIIvIvS. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


FROM  THE  LATE  GEORGE  DUFFIELD,  LL.  D. 

Br,ooMFiEi<D,  N.  J.,  June  12,  1888. 

11.  O.  Wills  : 

Dear  Sir, — I  was  glad  to  receive  your  paper 
from  Glenn's  Falls,  giving  an  account  of  your  work 
there.  For  a  month  past  I  have  been  unable  to 
write  to  any  one,  and  only  within  two  or  three 
daj^s  have  I  gained  a  fighting  chance  for  life. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  know  that  you 
are  still  faithful  in  your  labors  for  the  salvation  of 
human  souls.  It  is  a  grand  work — the  grandest  in 
which  mortal  men  may  be  employed ;  and  so  long 
as  you  stick  to  your  motto,  "  He  died  for  me,"  I  do 
not  doubt  of  your  success. 

This  simple  truth  is  mighty,  through  God,  for  the 
pulling  down  of  the  strongholds  of  sin  and  Satan. 

M}^  brother,  Bethune,  unites  with  me  in  thanks- 
giving for  what  you  have  done  and  are  still  doing 
for  the  cause  of  our  Savior,  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world.    With  love  to  you  and  Mrs.  Wills, 

Fraternally  yours,        George  Duffield. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


II 


FROM  A  NEWSPAPER  PROPRIETOR. 

Detroit  Evening  Journai.,  June  6,  1890. 

The  work  at  the  Casino  Tabernacle  began  with 
the  efforts  of  Rev.  H.  O.  Wills,  which  resulted  in 
the  conversion  of  a  large  number  of  persons,  and 
the  spiritual  quickening  of  many  more.  The  work 
which  Mr.  Wills  thus  successfully  began,  has  since 
been  maintained  with  satisfactory  increase. 

Mr.  Wills  is  original  in  his  methods,  an  evident 
student  of  the  Bible,  and  a  graphic  expounder  of  its 
pages.  Conversions  seem  invariably  to  follow  his 
work,  and  if  the  lyord  honors  his  work,  others 
may  well  be  slow  to  criticise. 

W.  H.  Brkarlk 


FROM  THE  GREAT  MERCHANT. 

Detroit,  Mich.,  June  7,  1890. 

I  HAVE  known  H.  O.  Wills  several  years.  He 
is  an  earnest,  honest  Christian  worker,  not  doing 
things  by  halves,  but  openly  advocating  whatever 
he  believes. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  these  few  words 
in  his  favor.  I  believe  he  has  done  an  immense 
amount  of  good  in  Detroit  and  Michigan. 

Yours  truly,  J.  ly.  Hudson. 


12 


TESTIMONIALS. 


FROM  A  NEWSPAPER  EDITOR. 

Detroit,  June  6,  1890. 
TAKK  pleasure  in  bearing  witness  to  the  fact 

that, 

WhkrKAS,  once  H.  O.  Wills  was  a  drunkard,  a 
brawler,  a  ward-heeler,  a  profane  and  vulgar  bruiser, 
he  is  now  a  conscientious,  generous,  intense,  and 
successful  lover  of  his  fellow-men. 

He  claims  that  religion  has  made  this  change. 
I  do  not  know  the  cause,  but  the  result  is  apparent. 

Mr.  Wills  has  the  confidence  of  the  people  of 
Detroit — Christians  and  many  worldings,  too — and 
he  has  never  abused  that  confidence.  He  is  a  better 
citizen  than  he  was  before  the  *'  great  change  "  came 
over  him;  a  better  husband,  a  better  father. 

C.  F.  IvKIDY. 


FROM  A  DETROIT  BANKER. 

Detroit,  April  30,  1886. 

H.  O.  W11.1.S : 

Dbar  Sir, — Continue  in  your  good  work,  and  I 
pray  that  God  may  pour  upon  you  his  richest  blessing. 
"  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord ;  trust  also  in  him, 
and  he  shall  bring  it  to  pass."  "  Trust  in  the  Lord 
and  do  good ;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and 
verily  thou  shalt  be  fed."  Inclosed  find  ten  dollars, 
which  please  accept  for  yourself  and  your  work  in 
this  city.  Yours  truly, 

T.  S.  Anderson. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


13 


FROM  A  DETROIT  MANUFACTURER. 
Dkar  Brother  Wii^IvS, — Inclosed  check  for  fifty 
dollars  to  help  on  your  work.    If  you  need  more 
let  me  know,  only  don't  publish"^  me.  Wishmg 
you  well,  Yours  sincerely, 

.  A.  McViTTiE. 


FROM  A  I.ANSING  MANUFACTURER. 

Lansing,  Mich.,  Nov.  16,  1889. 

H.  O.  W11.T.S : 

Dear  Sir, — Inclosed  find  check  for  ten  dollars 
for  your  personal  use.    I  feel  certain  you  are  doing 
good,  and  want  to  show  my  appreciation  of  the  same. 
Yours  truly,  A.  O.  Bement. 

FROM  A  "FEW  FRIENDS." 

Detroit,  Jan.  19,  1887. 

Mrs.  H.  O.  Wii,i.S  : 

Dear  Madam, — A  few  of  Mr.  Wills's  friends 
have  subscribed  for  a  fund  of  $600.  (Fifty  dollars 
per  month  for  one  year,  to  be  paid  you  through  the 
State  Savings  Bank),  for  the  support  of  yourself  and 
family  while  Mr.  Wills  devotes  himself  to  his  evan- 
gelistic labors  in  Michigan.  The  first  installment 
of  this  fund  ($50  for  January)  is  now  ready  to  be 
paid  you  on  application  in  person  at  the  bank. 

Respectfully,  T.  S.  Anderson. 

*  The  above  note  was  written  over  a  year  before  this 
volume  was  published,  and  its  present  use  is,  by  consent  of 
Mr.  McVittie,  especially  given  for  this  purpose. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


The  following  testimonials,  from  tlie  heads  of 
the  criminal  courts  of  the  city  of  Detroit,  show 
the  feeling  in  those  courts : 

POIvICE  COURT  OF  THE  CITY  OF  DETROIT. 

Detroit,  June  lo,  1890. 
I  UNHESITATINGLY  and  gladly  recommend  H.  O. 
Wills  and  his  work  to  all  thinking  people.  A  dis- 
cussion of  his  methods  is  not  necessary  from  one 
who  knows  the  results  of  that  work  as  well  as  I  do. 
He  is  a  man  who  has,  to  a  sublime  degree,  the 'cour- 
age of*  his  convictions,  and  w^ho,  no  matter  what  hia 
early  life  has  been,  is,  as  I  believe,  a  thoroughly 
honest  man  at  present.  That  he  has  done  great 
good  is  known  to  all  the  people  of  Michigan,  and  I 
am  certain  that  that  same  people;  join  wdth  me  in 
wishing  him  a  continuance  of  his  valuable  service. 
Respectfully,  Edmund  Haug, 

Police  Justice. 


RECORDER'S  COURT  OF  THE  CITY  OF  DETROIT. 

Geo.  S.  Swift,  \  T„^o-es  L^^^^^' 

F1TZWII.1.IAM  H.  Chambers,  /      ^    '  Clerk. 

Detroit,  June  9,  1890. 

To  whom  it  may  co7icern  : 

I  HAVE  great  pleasure  in  saying  that  I  am  ac- 
quainted with  H.  O.  Wills,  evangehst,  and  I  know 
of  the  great  and  good  work  in  which  he  has  been 
for  a  long  time  engaged.    He  has  been  most  sue- 


TESTIMONIALS. 


15 


cessful,  and  has  done  a  vast  amount  of  good.  He 
is  an  affable  and  kind-hearted  gentleman,  but  an 
uncompromising  enemy  of  sin  and  vice  in  every  form. 
He  is  a  man  of  experience  and  a  judge  of  human 
nature.  I  respect  and  admire  his  heroism  in  attack- 
ing vice  in  high  as  well  as  low  places.  I  hope  he 
may  be  as  successful  in  future  as  in  the  past. 

I  am,  respectfully,  F.  H.  Chambers. 


FROM  SHERIFF  STEIvWAGBN. 

Detroit,  Nov.  20,  1886. 

To  whom  it  may  concern  : 

This  is  to  certify  that  H.  O.  Wills  stands  unsur- 
passed, in  my  opinion,  in  prison  work.  He  has 
labored  for  the  past  two  3'^ears  in  the  Wayne  County 
Jail  with  marked  success,  under  my  own  observation. 

I  cheerfully  testif}^  to  his  good  work,  and  sin- 
cerel}'-  hope  that  every  opportunity  will  be  offered 
him  in  his  noble  calling. 

Geo.  H.  Stellwagen, 
Sheriff  of  Wayne  County,  Michigan. 


FROM  U.  S.  MINISTER,  THOS.  W.  PALMER. 

Office  of  T.  W.  Palmer,  Detroit,  Dec.  23,  1889. 
Rev,  H.  O.  W11.1.S,  357  CHnton  St,  Detroit: 

Dear  Sir,— The  Hon.  T.  W.  Palmer,  now  at 
Madrid  as  U.  S.  Minister  to  Spain,  has  cabled  me 


i6 


TESTIMONIALS. 


to-night,  directing  me  to  bear  to  you  his  assurances 
of  esteem  and  friendship,  and  to  say  that  he  is  with 
you  in  spirit  at  this  time  of  Christmas  rejoicings, 
if  not  in  person. 

He  directs  me  to  say  further,  that  while  wishing 
you  health  and  happiness,  he  has  caused  to  be  placed 
to  your  credit  in  this  office  the  sum  of  $25,  which 
amount  I  will  be  pleased  to  hand  you  at  any  time. 
With  kind  regards,  believe  me. 

Yours  truly,         Ford  Starring,  Agent. 


INTRODUCTION. 


GOD  moves  in  a  mysterious  way  in  calling 
and  selecting  those  who  are  to  carry  for- 
ward the  interests  of  his  kingdom,  which  con- 
templates the  world's  evangelization. 

What  Christian  of  the  early  Jerusalem  society 
could  have  had  the  remotest  idea  that  Saul,  the 
cruel  persecutor,  would  be  called  of  God  to  be 
the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  ?  What  Chris- 
tian Council  of  the  sixteenth  century  would  have 
selected  Luther,  the  poor  boy,  the  miner's  son,  as 
the  most  suitable  man  to  inaugurate  a  new  era? 

Or,  who  among  all  the  Christian  people  of  Chi- 
cago thought  of  looking  to  D.  L.  Moody  as  the 
man  who  would  awaken  the  Church  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  to  see  the  vast  possibilities  in  the 
use  of  lay  workers,  to  hasten  the  world's  evan- 
gelization ? 

I  met  a  cultivated  young  Scotchman  in  Aus- 
tria, some  time  ago,  engaged  in  mission-work. 

2  17 


i8  INTRODUCTION. 

He  told  me  he  had  been  awakened  to  give  him- 
self to  such  service  by  D.  Iv.  Moody,  during  his 
work  in  Scotland.  How  strange  that  the  unedu- 
cated Chicago  Moody  should  be  sent  to  cultivated 
Edinburgh,  rich  in  Christian  learning  and  great 
teachers,  to  awaken  her  young  men  to  give  them- 
selves to  God's  service !  How  true  the  words 
of  Isaiah,  "  For  my  thoughts  are  not  your 
thoughts,  neither  are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith 
the  Ivord!"  No;  this  is  not  the  human  way. 
Man  could  not  work  out  results  along  this  line ; 
it  is  not  natural ;  it  surpasses  human  thought;  it 
looks  to  be,  it  must  be  divine. 

To  take  the  most  unfit  person,  naturally  con- 
sidered, and  to  work  out  through  him  the  most 
marv^elous  results,  is  not  human,  but  divine. 

We  have  something  of  this  in  the  case  of  the 
subject  of  this  volume.  H.  O.  Wills  was  rescued 
suddenly  out  of  the  very  mire  of  a  long  life  of 
sin,  having  no  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes,  and 
transformed  by  the  power  of  God,  and  chosen 
as  a  messenger  to  do  strange  things  and  a  great 
work  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

On  Thursday  night,  late  in  October,  1883,  I 
was  conducting  the  usual  prayer-meeting  service 


INTRODUCTION. 


19 


ill  the  Jefferson  Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  of  Detroit.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting, 
which  had  been  unusually  quiet,  a  large,  rough- 
looking  man  arose,  and  began  to  give  his  ex- 
perience. I  had  never  before  seen  the  man  or 
heard  his  voice ;  but  as,  in  subdued  tones  and 
with  tears,  he  related  the  story  of  his  strange 
conversion  a  few  nights  before  in  his  own  bed- 
room, his  words  thrilled  me,  and  produced  im- 
pressions I  can  never  forget,  which  led  me  to 
say  within  myself:  I  do  n't  know  this  man,  nor 
his  history,  but  he  is  a  wonderfully  transformed 
being,  and  is  surely  called  of  God  for  some  great 
work." 

He  joined  the  Church,  but  could  not  be  satis- 
fied with  the  ordinary  Christian  life.  He  was 
working  for  God  anywhere  and  everywhere,  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  but  especially  among 
the  rougher  class  among  whom  he  had  spent 
his  life.  At  last  he  gave  up  his  profitable  busi- 
ness, and  committed  himself  to  God  to  do  special 
Christian  work.  When  we  had  arranged  to  build 
a  new  church,  I  saw  him  rally  financial  influence 
to  purchase  this  building,  in  which  he  had  given 
his  first  public  experience,  and  having  removed 


20 


INTRODUCTION. 


it  several  blocks,  conducted  therein  a  mission 
for  many  months ;  then  he  went  forth  into  a 
larger  field.  All  this  time  he  was  being  trained 
of  God  by  severe  trials  and  discouragements, 
often  without  money,  seemingly  without  friends, 
severely  tempted,  but  through  it  all  he  grew  in 
grace,  and  more  abundant  in  labors. 

Friends  have  often  come  to  me  saying  :  "You 
had  better  see  Brother  Wills ;  he  is  having  such 
trial,  and  will  surely  give  up."  To  all  such  I 
have  always  replied  :  "  No,  he  will  come  out  of 
his  trial  glorifying  God." 

Nearly  seven  years  have  now  passed.  No 
m^an  could  be  more  changed  than  he,  in  the 
time.  That  the  hand  of  God  has  been  in  it  all 
is  beyond  question,  and  we  look  for  continued, 
wide-spread  usefulness,  and  for  the  awakening 
of  multitudes  of  dead  souls  through  his  earnest 
labors.  Rkv.  William  Dawe. 


WICE  BORN. 


SKLK-WIIvIvKD  IN  UNTKANCY. 
IvTHOUGH  I  have  lived  through  a  half  cen- 


^  tury,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  my  life 
has  been,  up  to  within  seven  years  ago,  a  check- 
ered one,  the  single  beacon-light  in  that  life,  the 
one  unfailing  token  of  my  hopes  and  dreams, 
has  been  my  memory  of  my  mother.  Left  a 
widow  when  I  was  but  six  months  old,  and  left 
alone,  too,  in  the  large  city  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  with- 
out money  and  with  but  few  acquaintances, 
to  do  as  best  she  might  in  bringing  up  her 
small  family,  she  struggled  against  poverty  most 
bravely.  Firm  in  her  faith  in  God,  she  made 
honest  and  continuous  effort  to  teach  me  the 
right  way,  but  without  success.  She  was  patient, 
forgiving,  self-sacrificing,  and  most  gentle  with 
me,  trying  to  deal  with  me  as  only  a  mother 
can,  and  while  I  occasionally  brightened  her 
dreary,  dark  existence,  it  was  only  for  a  moment. 


21 


TWICE  BORN. 


SO  to  Speak.  Well  do  I  remember  how  she 
taught  me  the  pretty  little  petition,  to  the  Giver 
of  all  good;  and  many  and  many  a  time,  since 
then,  both  in  prison  and  when  free,  has  come  to 
me  the  words,  "  Now,  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep." 

The  same  prayer,  taught  generation  after 
generation,  most  potent  in  its  simplicity,  and 
known  to  the  universal  army  of  children,  has 
been,  beyond  any  question,  of  inestimable  good  to 
the  world ;  but,  as  in  my  own  case,  it  has  been 
too  often  learned  as  one  of  infancy's  "  stints," 
to  be  chattered  off  parrot-like,  so  long  as  parental 
authority  demands  it,  to  be  finally  abandoned 
when  that  self-control,  which  comes  with  ad- 
vanced youth,  asserts  itself.  There  is  one  char- 
acteristic about  the  prayer  which  proves  its 
value ;  I  had  almost  said  its  immortality, — it  is, 
that  no  matter  how  vicious  or  how  wicked  a 
man  or  woman  may  become,  the  text  of  that 
prayer  is  never  forgotten  after  it  has  been  once 
committed  to  memory. 

Reader,  do  you  remember  it  ?  Does  it  ever 
come  to  you,  gray-headed  though  you  may  be  ? 
God  grant  that  it  does,  and  that  ;t  may  again, 


H,  O.  WILLS. 


23 


and  that  through  it,  if  you  are  not  yet  in  the 
light,  or,  if  once  a  believer,  you  are  faltering,  you 
may  be  brought  to  Christ! 

While  I  was,  as  most  young  boys  are,  fond  of 
my  mother,  and  while  I  used  often  to  help  her, 
to  the  best  of  my  ability,  doing  errands,  helping 
about  the  house,  and  the  like,  still  I  was  way- 
w^ard  and  unruly,  and  my  chief  protests  were 
against  attending  school  and  going  to  Sunday- 
school. 

I  wish  to  say,  right  here,  that  the  most  fatal 
mistake  that  can  possibly  be  made  by  a  boy  or 
girl  is  to  neglect  whatever  school  privileges  may 
be  offered.  Nine-tenths  of  the  beginnings  in 
crime  come  because  of  the  shiftless,  aimless, 
and  degrading  hours  of  idleness,  brought  about 
through  failure  to  go  to  school. 

I  was  sent  by  my  mother  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Beaman's  (Presbyterian)  Sunday-school ;  and 
while  I  did  go  occasionally,  and  while  once  or 
twice  I  was  known  to  have  my  lesson,  still  I  was 
most  irregular  and  unreliable,  and  more  than 
that,  I  could  not  arouse  any  interest  in  the  school 
and  its  teachings.  Yet  God  is  good  as  well  as 
mysterious,  and  I  often  find  myself  now  wonder- 


24 


TWICE  BORN. 


ing  whether  it  is  not  the  few  scattering  seeds 
sowed  at  that  time,  and  in  that  school,  and  al- 
most by  accident,  as  it  were,  which,  in  full 
bloom  and  firmly  rooted  in  my  heart,  are  now 
giving  their  best  blossoms  and  choicest  fruit,  in 
my  behalf.  Who  can  say  that  the  Wills  who  is 
now  writing  this,  is  not  like  the  prolific,  full-ripe 
wheat,  that  sprouted  and  grew  luxuriantly  after 
having  been  hidden  for  ages  in  the  long-forgot- 
ten graves  of  the  Egyptian  mummies  ? 

Of  course  my  present  chief  regret  is  that  I 
did  not  obey  the  pleadings  of  my  mother  and 
the  instructions  of  my  teachers.  Well,  I  moved 
from  bad  to  worse  until,  when  eleven  years  of 
age,  my  dear  mother  died,  and  I  was  left  alone 
to  battle  with  life,  and  educated  to  that  most 
wicked  pitch  where  I  firmly  believed  that  the 
battle  of  life  meant  literally  a  cruel,  unscrupu- 
lous, and  sanguinary  struggle.  Mother  had  said 
to  me,  just  before  she  died,  Henry,  what  will 
yow  do  when  I  die?"  and  while  she  begged  of 
me  to  place  myself  in  the  care  of  either  my 
uncle  William  or  my  uncle  Jim  (her  brothers), 
I  felt  guilty;  that  is  to  say,  I  know  now  that  I  felt 
guilty.    At  the  time,  however,  I  felt  angry  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


25 


wicked,  and  humored  my  false  belief  that  my 
uncles  had  no  interest  in  me,  and  would  do 
nothing  for  me.  Of  course  I  promised  my 
mother  that  I  would  go  to  them,  and  after  she 
died,  I  did  go  to  live  with  my  uncle  William. 
He  was  a  wholesale  crockery  merchant  at  No. 
79  Pearl  Street.  While  I  know  that  I  gave  him 
plenty  of  trouble  by  refusing  to  go  to  school, 
and  by  various  other  acts  of  disobedience,  and 
while  I  am  sure  I  was  a  disagreeable  addition  to 
his  family,  as  I  had  a  quick,  ungovernable 
temper,  and  a  natural  tendency  toward  fighting, 
still  I  fancy  my  evil  qualities  were  not  wholly 
the  cause  of  my  troubles.  For  instance,  I  had 
many  rows  through  refusing  to  shine  my  cousin 
John's  shoes,  and  repeatedly  I  resented  what  I 
called  unwarranted  overbearing,  both  on  the 
part  of  my  uncle  and  his  son.  Finally,  after  I 
had  played  "  hookey  "  the  larger  part  of  an  en- 
tire term,  the  climax  was  brought  about  by  my 
uncle's  asking  me  to  bring  home  my  school- 
books,  that  he  might  see  the  progress  I  had 
made.  Like  all  sinners,  I  was  a  coward.  I  was 
afraid  to  face  my  uncle's  wrath,  and  so  when  I 
left  my  uncle's  house  that  morning  ostensibly  to 

3 


26 


TWICE  BORN. 


go  to  school,  I  left  for  good.  I  left  to  continue 
my  already  well-begun  downward  course. 

Did  I  have  any  money  ?  Not  a  copper ;  but 
that  fact  did  not  alarm  me.  I  had  been  on  the 
street  too  long  not  to  have  learned  that  I  could 
get  money  either  in  one  way  or  another.  What 
did  I  do  ?  Anything  that  came  my  way.  I  car- 
ried a  route"  for  the  Troy  Daily  Press ^  I  ran 
on  errands,  blackened  shoes,  and  so  on,  when  I 
could  n't  get  money  in  other  ways.  What  other 
ways?  They  were  innumerable  as  to  details  of 
operation,  but  they  all  came  under  the  head  of 
stealing.  I  was  in  all  kinds  of  deviltry.  I  rec- 
ollect, one  bright  summer  day,  I  asked  a  boy 
named  Albert  Higgins,  where  a  Mr.  Andrews  (who 
was  approaching  us)  lived.  Now,  we  had  just 
stolen  a  box  of  liquid  stove-blacking,  and  when 
Albert  pointed  toward  Mr.  Andrews,  I  threw  the 
blacking  all  over  the  gentleman's  suit  of  white 
duck,  and  cut  and  run  for  it.  I  simply  relate 
this  little  incident  to  show  how  willful  and  ma- 
licious we  were  in  our  deviltry.  I  worked  for 
a  time  in  the  molding-room  of  a  stove-foundry, 
and  while  there  I  used  to  shake  out  sand,  and 
cut  it  for  John    Morrissey,  afterward  a  noted 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


29 


pugilist,  and  still  later  noted  as  the  proprietor 
of  the  finest  gambling-hell  in  Saratoga,  while 
he  was  at  the  same  time  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Congress.  Then  I  used  to  run 
with  Old  Ten  "  (a  fire-engine  company),  and  I 
had  the  then  great  honor,  to  me  a  boy,  of  hold- 
ing the  butt "  when  the  old  Alhambra  was 
burned ;  I  took  an  active  part  in  the  great  fight 
between  Six"  and  Ten,"  when  Orr's  paper- 
factory  on  River  Street  was  burned.  Recollect 
I  was  not  yet  ten  years  old,  so  far  as  age 
counted,  but  in  knowledge  of  the  world  in  its 
worst  sense  I  was  a  man.  As  a  boot-black 
and  newsboy,  with  my  kit  and  papers,  I  worked 
my  passage  on  the  boats  to  New  York  City,  and 
here  I  brought  up  at  the  Washington  Market, 
then  the  place  of  all  places  in  the  great  Ameri- 
can metroplis  to  go  to  school.  To  learn  astron- 
omy and  mathematics  ?  Not  much !  but  the 
veritable  American  university  of  learning  as  to 
petty  thieving  and  swindling  operations.  Here 
I  ran  errands  for  the  fishermen  and  oystermen, 
not  with  a  view  to  earning  money  honestly,  but 
as  a  cloak,  from  beneath  which  I  might  keep 
watch  all  the  time  for  an  opportunity  to  do  the 


30  TWICE  BORN. 


devil's  work ;  because  I  now  claim  it  was  the 
devil  in  me  that  made  me  do  those  things. 

O  the  schemes  we  had  for  dishonestly  getting 
money  !  They  are  old  games  now  ;  but  they  were 
new  then,  and  seldom  failed  to  work  success- 
fully. There  was  the  stuffed  pocket-book  dodge, 
where  we  would  drop  a  pocket-book  full  of 
counterfeit  money  behind  a  man,  whose  dress 
and  manners  would  tell  us  he  was  from  the  coun- 
try. We  would  do  it  in  such  a  way  that  he 
would  surely  look  around  just  as  we  would,  pick- 
ing it  up  again,  pretend  to  have  just  found  it. 
Then,  before  his  wondering  eyes  we  would  open 
it,  so  that  he  could  see  the  gold,  the  bills  or  the 
drafts,  all  bogus.  Then  one  of  our  gang  would 
come  up  from  the  opposite  direction,  just  as 
though  he  was  a  stranger  to  everybody,  and  ask 
the  countryman  if  he  had  not  just  lost  his  pocket- 
book.  By  this  time  we  would  be  across  the 
street  examining  the  book,  apparently  with  great 
interest  and  greater  secrecy.  Our  "  pal  "  would 
assure  the  countryman  that  he  saw  him  drop 
it,  and  offer  to  help  him  get  it  back  again.  Do  n't 
you  see?  the  countryman  has  had  a  glimpse  of 
what  he  supposes  is  a  big  boodle  of  money,  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


31 


he  thinks  he  has  got  a  disinterested  friend  to 
prove  the  property  is  his.  The  temptation  is 
too  great,  and  about  six  times  out  of  ten  the 
countryman  would  fall  into  the  trap.  Then  he 
and  his  new-found  friend  would  come  over  to  us, 
claim  the  pocket-book  and  threaten  arrest  unless 
we  would  give  it  back  to  the  owner.  Of  course 
we  would  be  much  frightened,  and  we  would 
kick  a  little.  Then  the  man  who  found  the 
pocket-book  would  suggest  a  reward,  and  the 
trick  would  generally  end  up  in  our  getting 
from  fifty  to  sixty  dollars  reward  for  a  book  full 
of  worthless  stuff,  that  had  cost  us  a  couple  of 
shillings. 

Another  great  racket"  we  had,  was  the  sale 
of  snide  "  jewelry.  At  the  market,  when  the 
crowd  was  the  biggest,  one  of  us  would  approach 
some  benevolent,  wealthy-looking  lady,  as  though 
trying  to  conceal  something,  and  as  though 
afraid  of  detection.  After  attracting  the  lady's 
attention,  he  would  cautiously  open  one  hand, 
displaying  therein  what  appeared  to  be^a  fine 
gold  ring.  (It  was  a  heavy  brass  affair,  thinly 
plated  with  gold,  and  costing  about  a  dollar  a 
dozen.)    He  would  say,  timidly  :  "  Missus,  do  n't 


32  TWICE  BORN. 

you  want  to  buy  this  ?  I  just  found  it  out  there 
in  the  street."  Ninety-nine  times  in  a  hundred 
the  bait  would  catch  the  fish. 

Well,  this  sort  of  thing  went  on  all  summer, 
and  then  came  winter.  Truly  it  is  said  that 
one-half  the  world  knows  not  how  the  other 
half  lives.  It  might  be  added  that  they  do  not 
care.  What  do  you  think  of  a  boy,  just  eleven 
years  old,  sleeping  out  on  the  wharfs  in  the  fall 
of  the  year,  with  nothing  under  him  but  a  barrel 
of  salt,  and  with  a  big,  black,  stiff  tarpaulin  or 
a  heavy  sail-cloth  over  him  ?  Who-o-o !  It 
makes  me  shiver  even  now  to  think  of  it.  Why 
in  those  days  a  good,  big  dry-goods  box,  with 
straw  or  paper  in  it,  was  for  us  as  good  as  a 
room  in  the  Astor  House, — at  that  time  the  lead- 
ing hotel  in  the  city.  Do  you  wonder  that  I 
was  a  thief?  That  I  stole  everything  I  could 
lay  my  hands  on  ? 

Next,  I  got  a  job  watching  rats.  What 's 
that  ?  I  '11  tell  you.  It  was  to  watch  the  whole- 
sale stalls  in  Washington  Market,  to  prevent 
the  rats  from  eating  the  meat  kept  there.  My 
pay  was  a  shilling  a  week  for  walking  up  and 
down  at  night  in  front  of  the  stalls.  Armed 


H.  O.  WILLS.  33 

with  a  stout  club,  I  would  walk  from  one  stall 
to  another,  rapping  on  the  meat. 

Say,  you  all  know  what  rats  are ;  but  if  you 
are  ever  in  New  York  City,  I  advise  you  to  take 
a  stroll,  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  at  night, 
through  Washington  Market,  or,  in  fact,  any- 
where in  the  vicinity  of  the  river  front.  Rats ! 
You  would  surely  cry  out  "  rats,"  for  there  you  will 
see  myriads  of  the  little  beasts.  No,  you  won't 
see  them  by  the  dozens,  for  they  scamper  about 
in  troops  of  hundreds,  and  the  noise  made  by  a 
gravel-slide  over  a  tin  roof  is  the  nearest  simile 
I  can  give  to  the  noise  they  make  as  they  run 
along. 

While  I  knew  that  my  shilling  a  week  earned 
as  rat-watchman  was  as  pure  gold  compared 
to  the  devil's  dollars  I  captured  each  week  by 
thieving,  still  I  want  to  ask  you,  is  it  any  won- 
der that  most  of  the  scores  of  boys  of  my  age 
were,  as  I  was,  thieves  and  devil's  aids  ?  They 
could  get  work  and  wages.  Yes,  they  could 
patrol  a  great  market  all  night,  saving  hundreds 
of  dollars  worth  of  meat  each  night,  for  the 
magnificent  salary  of  one  shilling  a  week ! 

O  God,  why  did  I  not  know  then  that  you 


34 


TWICE  BORN. 


loved  me  so ;  that  even  then  you  were  watching 
over  me?  I  thank  you  now,  O  Jesus,  that  I 
know  it,  even  at  this  late  day! 

I  believe  it  would  take  more  time  and  paper 
than  I  could  get  hold  of  to  tell  you  of  all  the 
thieving  scrapes  and  swindling  operations  I  en- 
gaged in,  of  how  many  times  I  got  into  the  police 
station  and  got  out  again. 

O,  I  was  so  innocent-looking !  It  seemed 
to  ever}'body  that  it  must  have  been  some- 
body else  who  committed  the  crimes,  or  who 
put  me  up  to  them.  Even  after  I  was  in  the 
Tombs  (city  prison),  waiting  for  trial,  the  com- 
missioners who  came  in  said,  as  they  looked  at 
me,  "  This  boy  must  not  be  kept  here  with  the 
regular  criminals,  for  they  will  ruin  him and 
so  they  had  me  taken  out  and  sent  to  the  Home 
of  the  Friendless." 

If  these  men  had  known  me,  they  would 
have  known  that  I  could  have  taught  the  most 
hardened  criminal  in  the  Tombs  a  good  deal  of 
the  science  of  thieving  and  lying. 

Well,  I  staid  in  this  good  home  just  long 
enough  to  get  a  good  dinner,  and  then  said 
good-bye,"  and  then  vv^ent  down  to  the  market. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


35 


There  I  looked  around,  and  about  the  first  thing 
I  saw  on  one  of  the  stands  was  a  fat  pocket- 
book.  The  devil  said  to  me  at  once,  "Get  it," 
which  I  did  quickly.  I  then  shot  out  of  the 
market,  and  made  "  a  bee-line  "  for  the  Hudson 
River  Depot,  and  was  soon  on  my  way  to  Troy. 

(O,  how  I  wish  I  could  give  back  to-day  all 
that  I  have  stolen !  But  I  can  't.  God  says,  "  I^et 
him  who  stole,  steal  no  more  ,"  and,  God  being 
my  helper,  I  will  obey.) 

I  well  remember  how,  while  going  to  Troy, 
I  had  a  seat  in  the  car  with  an  old  man,  who, 
in  paying  the  conductor,  pulled  out  a  handful 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  some  of  it  dropped  on 
the  seat.  You  may  rest  assured  that  I  did  not 
call  his  attention  to  the  overflow,  but  considered 
it  my  own,  and  took  it.  When  I  got  back  to 
Troy  I  was  awfully  alone — no  home  to  go  to,  and 
no  mother  to  greet  me.  She  was  gone,  gone ! 
O,  mother,  mother!  God  being  my  helper  and 
my  Redeemer,  I  will  come  to  you ;  for  I  believe 
you  are  with  God.  Well  do  I  remember  your  last 
words  while  living.  They  were  words  of  prayer 
to  God  for  your  wayward  boy — the  prayer  end- 
ing with  the  words,    Jesus,  come  quickly." 


36 


TWICE  BORN. 


Let  whoever  reads  this  book  remember  that 
wben  your  mother  is  gone,  you  have  lost  your 
best  and  truest  friend  next  to  God. 

I  was  by  this  time  about  twelve  years  old, 
and  the  little  money  I  had  was  soon  gone ;  but 
I  found  a  place  as  chore-boy  in  the  Troy  Museum 
or  Theater,  which  was  in  charge  of  Joe  Howard ; 
and  O,  if  I  had  even  heeded  the  good  advice 
which  he  and  the  tragedian,  John  R.  Scott,  gave 
me,  I  might  have  been  a  better  boy.  During 
this  time,  too,  Charlotte  Cushman,  America's 
greatest  actress,  and  Kate  Denin,  another  emi- 
nent American  actress,  were  good  to  me,  and 
gave  me  good  advice.  I  used  to  carry  little 
Cordelia  Howard  from  the  Mansion  House  to 
the  theater.  O,  why  did  I  not  mind  God,  and 
see  that  he  had  raised  up  for  me  true  friends  ? 

The  reason  was,  because  the  devil  was  my 
master,  and  he  was  determined  that  I  should 
not  see  and  know  that  these  kind  souls  were 
my  friends.  The  devil  was  my  master.  I  had 
to  obey  him  ;  he  lived  in  me ;  he  was  stronger 
than  I,  and  made  me  do  his  will. 

I  had  two  cousins  in  Troy,  both  boys,  and  one 
day  as  I  was  returning  from  an  errand,  bring- 


H  O.  WILLS. 


39 


ing  some  guns  and  pistols  to  be  used  on  the 
stage,  I  met  these  two  boys.  They  said  they 
were  running  away  from  home,  and  it  did  not 
take  much  urging  on  their  part  to  get  me  to  go 
with  them.  They  had  money,  and  I  had  guns 
and  pistols  ;  so  we  started  West  on  the  Erie  Canal, 
and  by  the  time  we  got  to  Lockport  we  had 
neither  money,  guns,  nor  pistols.  The  boys  left 
me  to  take  care  of  myself,  and  I  went  back  to 
Troy  by  working  my  passage  as  driver  on  the 
tow-path.    I  walked. 

I  think  I  could  preach  a  sermon  to  a  lot  of 
canal-drivers — such  a  sermon  as  they  would 
listen  to  a  good  deal  quicker  than  to  a  sermon 
from  Talmage  or  Spurgeon,  because  I  could 
speak  to  them  in  their  own  language:  ^'And 
they  were  amazed  and  marveled,  saying  one  to 
another,  Behold,  are  not  all  these  which  speak 
Galileans  ?  And  how  hear  we  every  man  in 
our  own  tongue,  wherein  we  were  born?"  (Acts 
ii,  7,  8.)  ■  ■ 

This  is  the  true  way  to  preach  the  gospel ;  then 
every  man  can  understand  it ;  we  must  prove  that 
we  are  not  above  them,  but  are  one  of  them, — 
"Behold,  he  eateth  with  publicans  and  sinners," 


40 


TWICE  BORN. 


Well,  I  got  back  to  Troy,  and  in  a  few  hours 
I  had  a  boarding-house  where  people  are  taught 
to  play  checkers  with  their  nose.  I  was  tried 
and  convicted,  because  I  could  not  come  any 
gush  on  the  Troy  officers.  You  see,  they  had 
come  to  know  me  so  well.  I  was  sent  to  the 
House  of  Refuge  to  stay  until  I  was  twenty-one 
years  old.  I  was  in  there  but  nine  months,  for 
here  fortune  stood  my  friend  again,  and  while 
there  the  officers  took  to  me,  and  gave  me  the 
6oft  job  of  hall-boy. 

After  I  was  in  the  House  of  Refuge  nine 
months,  a  farmer  came  along  from  New  Jersey, 
and  I  was  bound  out  to  him.  He  took  me  home 
to  his  farm,  which  was  a  terribly  stony  one.  I 
did  n't  like  to  pick  stone  very  well,  so  I  said 
good-bye  "  to  the  farmer,  and  was  gone  be- 
fore he  knew  it.  Run  away?  Of  course  I  did. 
That  was  about  all  I  knew  enough  to  do ;  and, 
like  all  tricky,  dishonest  people,  I  steered  at  once 
for  my  old  haunts  and  companions. 

Well,  back  to  Troy  I  went.  I  was  now  four- 
teen years  old.  I  go  into  all  these  little  details 
because  I  want  to  tell  what  a  blessed  Savior  I 
have  found,  and  to  do  this  I  must  tell  how  bad 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


41 


I  have  been.  Then  one  can  see  just  what  he 
has  saved  me  from. 

Did  I  continue  to  steal?  Yes,  everything 
I  could  lay  my  hands  on.  I  thought  that  God 
and  all  the  world  hated  me  ;  so  I  said,  "  Tit 
for  tat." 

Since  I  have  started  to  serve  my  Savior,  in 
these  late  years,  some  have  called  me  "Crazy 
Wills,  poor  crazy  Wills  ;"  but  this  is  not  true.  I 
was  crazy  when  I  got  back  to  Troy,  the  time 
spoken  of  above. 

At  this  time  I  was  so  crazy  that  I  thought 

every  store  was  mine,  with  all  the  goods.  T 

helped  myself  so  much,  and  so  often,  that  before 

long  I  was  again  taken  before  the  judges.  They 

declared  me  so  crazy  that  I  would  have  to  be 

locked  up  again;  they  gave  me  my  choice  of 

asylums,  either  to  go  back  to  the  refuge,  or  to 

the  State  prison.    If  I  went  to  the  prison,  it 

meant  two  years'  confinement ;  so  I  chose  the 

crazy  asylum.    You  see,  I  knew  if  I  was  taken 

back  to  the  refuge,  after  I  had  run  away  from 

the  stony  farm  in  New  Jersey,  I  would  have  to 

stay  until  I  was  twenty-one  years  old,  or  be  sent 

to  sea  on  a  whaler,  and  I  preferred  to  stay  on  land. 
4 


42 


TWICE  BORN. 


When  I  reached  the  asylum,  they  put  brace- 
lets on  my  ankles,  and  tried  to  cure  me  of  my 
lunacy. 

They  put  me  at  work  in  the  iron-mines.  I 
sawed  wood,  and  did  other  work,  while  they 
dressed  me  in  a  beautiful  suit  of  clothes,  so  that 
if  I  should  happen  to  stray  away  from  the  Home 
I  would  not  be  lost.  All  the  people  about 
would  know  by  my  clothes  that  I  belonged  to 
the  Home,  and  would  kindly  bring  me  back  in 
safety. 

0  God !  This  was  the  time  I  was  truly 
crazy,  and  I  want  the  reader  to  judge  whether 
I  was  the  craziest  then  or  now. 

Even  here  God  helped  me  again ;  for  one  of 
the  prison  contractors  took  a  fancy  to  me,  and 
was  good  to  me,  because  I  was  only  a  boy,  not  six- 
teen years  old,  and  "  smart,"  as  they  called  it. 
They  put  me  in  the  machine-shop,  placed  me 
under  one  of  the  best  machinists  in  the  world, 
and  told  him  to  teach  me  all  about  an  engine. 

This  machinist  was  John  Phillips,  who  was 
in  for  life  for  killing  his  wife. 

1  served  my  "  time  "  without  punishment,  and 
was  pronounced  cured,  and  I  thought  I  was  cured. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


43 


Do  you  ask  how  mucli  I  got  when  I  came  out  ? 
O,  wonderful,  wonderful !  I  got  six  dollars,  which 
would  feed  me  and  take  me  back  to  Troy. 

Do  you  think  I  was  met  on  my  return  by  any 
good  people,  who  rejoiced  that  I  was  cured  ?  O 
no,  not  that ;  but  this  :  "  This  is  Wills,  the  State- 
prison  bird;"  and  you  may  be  sure  that  the 
officers  kept  an  eye  on  me  and  my  movements. 
Could  I  get  work  as  an  engineer  ?  No,  no.  No, 
I  had  to  go  with  that  one  shirt,  which  was  on  my 
back,  and  one  suit  of  clothes,  take  work  as  I 
could  find  it  on  the  docks,  in  the  brickyards,  and 
elsewhere.  At  this  time  I  was  not  very  strong, 
because  my  work  in  prison,  while  under  the 
machinist,  was  light  and  easy,  and  had  given  me 
but  little  strength,  while  the  work  I  was  forced 
to  do  now  was  too  hard  for  me.  I  made  a  great 
exertion,  however,  and  did  my  best ;  but  I  got 
no  encouragement, — I  was  a  State-prison  bird, 
and  that  was  all  there  was  about  it. 

Accordingly  I  went  crazy  again,  and  said  to 
myself:  ''Every  man's  hand  is  against  me,  then 
let  my  hand  be  against  every  man." 

Soon  the  law  was  hot  on  my  trail  again,  and  I 
started  West.    I   came  to   Michigan,  first  to 


44 


TWICE  BORN. 


Detroit,  and  stopped  one  night  in  1858 ;  then  on 
to  Grass  Lake,  where  I  tried  to  learn  to  be  a 
farmer.  I  did  not  like  to  be  so  near  to  Jackson, 
however,  and  so  I  came  back  to  Detroit,  where 
I  did  not  let  anything  grow  on  the  palm  of  my 
hands.  I  believe  I  could  get  away  with  "boodle " 
as  readily  as  any  man  in  the  State,  at  this  time, 
and  yet  I  was  only  a  boy. 

I  won't  go  through  all  the  details  at  this  day 
which  made  it  advisable  for  me  to  seek  an  east- 
ern climate,  but  I  did.  Can  any  one  tell  us  why 
a  thief  can 't  keep  away  from  the  place  that  has 
"  sent  him  up  "  so  many  times? 

Well,  again  I  was  back  in  Troy,  and  I  am 
sure  I  was  watched  pretty  close,  but  I  did  not 
steal  with  a  gang  any  more  ;  I  went  it  alone.  I 
said  to  myself:  If  I  get  caught  I  will  suffer 
alone,  and  I  will  not  have  to  '  divy  up  the  swag  ' 
with  any  one.    I  will  take  all  or  none." 

At  this  time  I  did  not  drink  ;  but  with  an  old 
companion  one  night,  I  got  drunk,  and  we  made 
Rome  howl  until  the  peelers  "  got  us,  and  we 
got  sixty  days  in  the  Albany  penitentiary.  Of 
all  the  prisons  I  ever  saw,  this  "takes  the  cake." 
Whoop !  but  it  beats  all  I  ever  heard  of.  O, 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


45 


what  a  table  !  My,  my  !  Rice  and  cock-roaches, 
and  all  such  dainties.  Enough,  enough  !  Two 
months  later  I  got  my  liberty.  Now,  what  is 
liberty  ?  I  will  define  true  liberty,  but  not  what 
I  called  liberty  in  the  days  I  write  about. 

Here  is  the  definition  of  true  liberty  :  "If 
the  Son,  therefore,  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall 
be  free  indeed."  (John  viii,  36.)  This  is  liberty, 
indeed ;  bless  God  for  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  who 
can  give  us  such  liberty ! 

Well,  once  out  in  the  world  again,  the  "  fly 
cops  "  watched  me,  and  I  watched  them,  week 
after  week  and  month  after  month.  They  would 
say:  "What  are  you  doing  now.  Wills?" 

"Haven't  you  heard  of  the  fortune  that  was 
left  me?"  said  I,  and  they  would  answer :  "  No, 
who  left  it  to  you?"  I  would  guy  them  with, 
"I  will  tell  you  in  my  will,"  or  some  such  stuff, 
and  they  would  pass  on  to  keep  up  watch  for 
me  to  "go  wrong." 

Let  me  say  right  here,  that  it  does  not  take 
a  smart  man  to  steal,  but  it  takes  a  smart  man 
to  hide.  This  explains  why  so  many  men  are  in 
prison  to-day.  The  greatest  trick  for  the  thief 
to  learn  in  order  to  keep  clear  of  the  prison,  is 


46 


TWICE  BORN. 


to  learn  to  control  himself,  so  that  he  never 
gets  the  big-head,  and,  imagining  that  he  is  very 
smart,  try  to  run  on  year  after  year  stealing  and 
being  crooked,  without  getting  the  "peelers" 
onto  him. 

This  is  the  fatal  mistake  I  made.  I  got  so 
crazy  at  this  time,  that  I  forgot  my  cunning. 
One  day,  in  passing  a  place,  the  devil  said  to 
me  :  "  This  place  and  all  in  it  is  yours,  and  you 
must  move  it  to-night,  or  the  creditors  will  take 
it."  So,  that  night,  instead  of  taking  a  man,  as 
a  friend,  to  help  me,  I  took  the  best  friend  on 
earth  to  help  move  or  take  stock,  a  friend  I  could 
trust — an  iron  bar,  called  a  "jimmy."  Not 
having  the  key,  I  opened  the  place  with  the 
jimmy,  and  moved  a  good  share  of  the  stock 
that  night,  thinking  all  the  time,  as  I  worked: 
"What  are  the  police  doing?  What  will  the 
peelers  say?" 

The  devil,  who  hates  everything  that  is  made 
in  God's  image,  told  me  how  to  take  the  goods ; 
but  he  did  not  tell  me  how  to  hide,  and  in  a  few 
days  the  asylum  officers  came,  and  said  :  "  Wills, 
we  want  you  to  come  and  be  examined,  to  see 
if  we  can  let  you  run  at  large  any  more." 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


47 


I  said  to  them  that  I  was  all  right ;  but  I  had 
to  go  with  them,  because  they  were  the  strong- 
est. When  we  arrived  at  the  Ferry  Street  board- 
ing-house, and  the  examination  began,  they  told 
me  that  they  had  proof  that  I  had  forgot  myself 
again,  and  had  been  helping  myself  to  other 
people's  property. 

I  laughed  at  them,  and  said:  "  How  can  you 
think  me  so  foolish  ?  Do  n't  you  see  that  I  do  n't 
kick,  bite,  or  rave  as  I  used  to  when  I  was  crazy  ; 
I  talk  just  as  sensibly  as  you  do. 

"  That  makes  no  difference,  Wills,"  they  an- 
swered ;  you  forgot  one  important  point  this 
time." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  said  I,  and  then  they 
told  me  I  forgot  to  hide  goods  this  time,  and  that  I 
had  the  big-head ;  that  by  patience  and  a  good  deal 
of  watching,  they  had  got  me  "  dead  to  rights." 
And  so  they  had  ;  they  had  got  the  swag,"  and 
I  was  in  for  it  again.  In  this  operation  I  had 
taken  all  the  risk,  and  kept  all  the  boodle  ;  there 
was  no  one  to  turn  State's  evidence.  I  was 
caught,  after  all,  in  the  long  run,  and  must  suffer. 

What  to  do  I  did  not  know.  If  I  stood  trial 
and  was  found  guilty,  I  would  get  the  extreme 


48 


TWICE  BORN. 


penalty  of  the  law,  because  the  same  judge  was 
on  the  bench  that  sent  me  up  before.  His  name 
was  Judge  Hogeboom,  and  he  was  noted  as  being 
bad  on  old  offenders.  At  this  juncture  I  sent  for 
my  cousin  and  the  prosecuting  attorney,  and 
asked  them :  "  What  w^as  the  best  that  could  be 
done  if  I  pleaded  guilty  ?"  They  said  they  would 
see  the  judge  and  let  me  know.  So  they  talked 
it  over,  and  said  they  would  give  me  three  and  a 
half  years  in  the  penitentiary.  (The  full  penalty 
was  seven  years,  and  by  pleading  guilty  I  could 
save  half.)  I  knew  it  was  "  all  up  "  with  me, 
and  said  to  them :  "  Drive  along,  and  be  quick 
about  it." 

I  put  on  lots  of  bravado ;  but  down  in  my  heart 
I  was  sick,  because  I  had  to  go  back  to  "  school,'^ 
as  I  did  to  the  asylum.  O  that  I  had  known 
something  about  Jesus  at  that  time,  or  that  I  had 
been  taught  that  Jesus  loved  me  !  It  seemed  to 
me  that  everybody  hated  me,  and  I  thought  that 
Jesus  must  hate  me,  because  I  was  so  bad.  Well, 
they  put  the  bracelets  on  my  legs  again,  and  on 
two  other  thieves  at  the  same  time. 

We  often  hear  and  read  of  the  "  great  honor 
there  is  among  thieves,"  and  I  wish  to  correct 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


49 


that  impression.  Wills,  who  writes  these  words, 
knows  what  he  is  talking  about,  because  he  has 
been  with  them.  Wills  says  there  is  no  honor 
among  thieves.  How  can  there  be  honor  among 
devils?  Devils  hate  each  other.  The  devil  is 
the  evil  one  who  makes  thieves,  and  he  must 
make  beings  like  himself — beings  who  must  hate 
each  other.  I^et  one  devil  have  a  chance  to  get 
out  of  prison  by  giving  the  other  devils  away,  and 
he  will  do  it  quick  enough,  unless  they  be  first 
cousins. 

Well,  I  was  sent  to  the  mines,  and  if  I  had 
known  anything  about  God's  Word  at  that  time, 
I  would  have  seen  the  truth  in  the  words:  Be 
not  deceived ;  God  is  not  mocked :  whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  (Gal. 
vi,  7-) 

O,  it  was  an  awfully  long  harvest  which  I  had ! 
How  I  suffered  no  one  can  tell !  I  often  said  in 
my  cell,  "What  will  it  come  to?"  But  I  knew 
the  ropes,  and  I  soon  had  one  of  my  old  places 
back  as  engineer.  You  see,  I  knew  that  engineers 
were  scarce  in  the  prison.  I  got  along  all  right 
until  I  tried  to  go  out,  without  first  getting  a 
letter  of  recommendation  from  the  prison  ofiScials. 
5 


50 


TWICE  BORN. 


For  this  breach  of  discipline,  the  officers  pro-- 
nounced  me  crazy,  and  gave  me  "  a  watch  and 
chain  "  to  wear.  The  watch  weighed  fifty  pounds, 
and  instead  of  fastening  the  chain  to  my  vest, 
they  fastened  it  to  my  leg. 

They  also  gave  me  a  neck-tie,  but  I  did  n't  likei 
it,  for  it  was  made  of  iron  instead  of  silk ;  and  it  was 
fastened  with  a  padlock,  so  that  I  could  not  take 
it  offi  After  a  while  I  was  put  back  in  the  mines ; 
but  not  for  long,  for  soon  they  needed  an  engineer 
in  the  nail  rolling-mill,  and  I  was  sent  there. 

O,  my  God,  as  I  write  this  to-night,  I  thank 
thee  for  what  thou  hast  done  for  me !  "  O  Lord  of 
hosts,  blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  thee 

I  had  been  in  the  rolling-mill  but  a  short  time, 
when  a  few  of  us  formed  a  plan  to  escape.  The 
job  was  "put  up''  by  a  man  named  Burke,  and 
another  man  named  Lewell. 

Lewell  was  to  hit  the  keeper,  whose  name 
was  Wright,  just  before  we  were  changed  for  the 
other  gang,  who  came  on  to  take  our  place  (as 
we  worked  half  the  night  and  half  the  day) ;  but 
before  it  came  off.  Burke  was  pardoned  out,  and 
I  was  changed  to  the  lower  rolling-mill,  on  ac- 
count of  the  engineer  at  that  mill  being  taken 


4 

PRISON  CURIOS. 
No.  I.  The  warden's  cane,  "  loaded  "  at  the  lower  end. 
No.  2.  Iron  collar  and  head-braces,  with  padlock. 
No.  3.  Half-pint  cup,  holding  daily  water  allowance. 
No.  4.  Skull-cracker,     Two  lead  knobs  connected  by 
handle  made  of  spiral  steel  wire. 
No.  5.  Ball  and  chain. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


53 


sick.  When  the  night  arrived,  that  we  were  to 
try  to  go  out,  I  could  n't  be  there,  because  of 
the  change,  and  I  was  locked  up  in  my  cell, 
when  Lewell  hit  the  keeper,  as  agreed  upon. 
Instead  of  knocking  him  senseless,  as  planned, 
he  knocked  him  dead,  dead  ! 

O  God !  O  Lord  !  how  can  I  thank  thee  to- 
day for  delivering  me  from  being  present  at  that 
horrible  death? 

Yes,  the  men  got  out  and  over  the  wall,  but 
it  was  not  long  before  the  great  prison-bell  be- 
gan to  ring  harshly  and  loud,  and  soon  "  tramp, 
tramp,"  then  the  great  cannon  boomed  out. 

It  was  the  rule  of  the  prison  (which  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  great  forests  of  Northeastern 
New  York  State),  that  if  a  convict  escaped,  the 
cannon  should  be  discharged  three  times.  When 
it  began  to  fire  this  night,  I  said,  O,  why  am 
I  locked  up  here  ?  Why  did  I  have  such  hard 
luck  ?  Why  was  I  sent  down  to  the  other 
mill?"  But,  O  God!  I  little  knew  what  had 
happened. 

Boom,  boom,  boom  !"  rang  out  the  gun, 
and  peal  after  peal,  until  one  would  think  all 
the  prisoners  had  escaped. 


54 


TWICE  BORN. 


At  last  it  stopped,  and  all  was  silent  until 
morning.  Then,  O,  what  a  story  ran  through  the 
prison !  All  the  men  in  the  upper  rolling-mill 
were  gone,  and  Wright,  the  keeper,  was  dead. 

No  work  to-day.  Every  man  locked  up,  and 
the  whole  village  was  off  in  the  woods.  The 
prison  was  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  woods,  six- 
teen miles  from  Plattsburg,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  The  woods  were  alive  with  French  char- 
coal-burners, for  we  used  charcoal  in  making 
the  iron  ;  and  there  were  hundreds  of  these  char- 
coal-burners in  the  woods.  When  these  men 
heard  the  gun  fired  three  times,  they  knew  it 
meant  that  a  prisoner  had  escaped,  and  they 
knew  that  whoever  caught  him  would  get  fifty 
dollars'  reward.  So  the  charcoal-burners  left 
their  work,  armed  themselves  with  all  kinds  of 
weapons, — pitchforks,  scythes,  guns,  and  clubs. 
It  seemed  to  them  a  better  job  than  burning 
charcoal,  for  they  had  to  burn  so  much  of  the 
stuff  to  get  fifty  dollars. 

The  men  were  soon  caught  and  back  in  prison 
again.  I  say  right  here,  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  escape  from  Clinton  Prison,  even  if  they 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


55 


should  let  you  out,  unless  you  liave  lielp  on  the 
outside, — some  one  to  furnish  you  clothes. 

The  men  were  now  locked  up  in  their  cells 
until  court  convened  in  Plattsburg;  and  then 
they  were  tried  and  convicted,  some  for  murder, 
and  some  for  manslaughter. 

Lewell,  Hall,  and  Brady  were  sentenced  to  be 
hung,  and  the  others  got  oflf  with  a  short  im- 
prisonment, because  they  knew  nothing  about 
the  plan,  and  only  went  out  with  the  others. 

Readers,  do  you  think  I  could  be  too  zealous 
in  the  cause  which  God  has  called  me  to  labor 
in?  Could  I  love  too  much  the  Being  who 
saved  me  from  having  any  direct  hand  in  killing 
Wright — the  Being  who  has  saved  me  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  devil  ?  Unless  I  do  all  I  am 
able  to  do  to  show  the  criminal,  the  thief,  and 
the  drunkard  that  Christ  is  the  true  friend  of 
all,  I  would  absolutely  be  a  coward,  and  morally 
an  imbecile. 

Well,  Ivcwell,  Hall,  and  Brady  had  their 
death-sentence  commuted  by  Governor  Hoffman 
to  imprisonment  for  life  ;  and,  since  I  have  had 
my  liberty,  I^ewell,  the  man  who  struck  and 


56 


TWICE  BORN. 


killed  Wright  lias  died.  Hall  is  still  in  prison, 
and  Brady  (whose  story  appears  elsewhere  in 
this  book)  is  at  liberty. 

I  won't  tell  the  reader  of  each  one  of  my  prison 
days,  each  one  of  the  days  I  spent  in  hell ;  for 
every  day  was  a  hell  upon  earth.  One  of  the 
punishments  in  the  prison  was  the  shower-bath ; 
not  such  a  shower-bath  as  the  reader  would  like, 
for  they  shower  you  with  water  until  you  are 
within  an  inch  of  being  drowned,  and  a  doctor 
stands  by  to  see  that  you  are  not  punished  to 
death.  After  this  they  buck  you  for  an  hour  or 
two.  O  dear !  how  can  a  man  endure  to  write 
about  it,  let  alone  going  through  it ! 

"  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  un- 
righteous man  his  thoughts,  and  let  him  return 
unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon 
him,  to  our  God  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon. 
(Isaiah  Iv,  7.) 

Time  passed,  and  again  I  was  set  at  liberty, 
with  the  same  magnificent  sum  of  seven  dollars 
as  before,  to  help  me  on  in  the  world.  Again 
I  had  no  friend,  no  mother  to  say  to  me  :  "  Come, 
boy,  let  us  see  what  can  be  done  to  start  you 
right."    Although  I  was  a  man  in  experience, 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


57 


T  was  only  a  boy  yet  in  years.  Of  course  I  went 
back  to  Troy.  This  was  in  '62,  and  as  I  went 
along  I  saw  soldiers,  soldiers,  nothing  but  sol- 
diers. Finding  no  money  growing  on  the  bushes, 
my  seven  dollars  was  soon  gone ;  and,  with  my 
money  all  gone,  and  seeing  so  many  patriots 
going  to  fight  for  their  country,  I  thought  I  had 
best  go  along  and  fight  with  them.  I  always 
liked  to  fight,  and  there  are  but  few  men  from 
Troy  that  do  n't. 

I  believe  that  Troy  has  turned  out  more 
fighting  men,  thieves,  and  harlots  than  any  city 
of  its  size  in  the  world. 

I  doffed  my  citizen's  clothes,  and  soon  was  a 
soldier.  That  is,  I  thought  I  was  a  soldier. 
Since  I  have  been,  however,  in  the  service  of  my 
Lord,  I  have  found  out  that  it  did  not  make  a 
soldier  of  a  man  just  because  he  had  his  name 
on  the  books,  had  his  uniform  on,  and  was  fitted 
out  with  accouterments.  O  no,  that  do  n't  make 
the  soldier. 

We  had  to  drill  and  march,  march  and  drill, 
work,  and  polish,  and  keep  clean.  To  become 
good  soldiers  we  had  to  do  all  these  things. 

To  become  a  good  soldier,  you  should  study  the 


58 


TWICE  BORN. 


tactics,  so  that,  if  the  commanding  general  made 
you  a  corporal,  you  could  drill  a  squad.  A  good 
soldier  is  always  ready,  because  he  knows  the 
enemy  is  on  the  move;  and  unless  he  is  watch- 
ful, the  enemy  will  outflank  him.  The  good 
soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  is  always  ready,  and  when 
called  on  he  won't  weaken  when  he  ought  to 
be  strong. 

How  would  it  look  for  one  of  the  soldiers  in 
our  army,  when  called  to  go  on  picket-duty,  to 
take  an  umbrella  to  prevent  getting  wet  ?  How 
would  it  do  to  let  all  the  soldiers  in  an  army 
act  as  hospital  stewards  ?  In  the  Christian  army 
there  are  a  good  many  Christian  soldiers  who 
seem  to  want  to  be  hospital  stewards,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  it.  I  will  say  to  such  soldiers,  keep 
your  guns  bright  and  clean,  inside  as  well  as 
outside  ;  see  that  your  saber  is  sharp  and  always 
ready  for  battle,  for  we  never  know  when  the 
bugle  will  sound,  "  Fall  in,  fall  in ;  the  enemy  is 
upon  us  !"  Remember  that  the  Christian's  enemy 
is  very  cunning ;  he  does  not  use  shot,  shell, 
and  sword-thrust  as  much  as  he  used  to  do;  he 
has  found  something  which  he  thinks  is  better ; 
he  uses  chloroform.    It  has  put  most  of  the 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


59 


Christian  army  to  sleep,  and  lets  tlie  devil  and 
his  army  ride  on  to  victory. 

O  wake  up,  wake  up,  soldiers  of  the  cross ; 
the  battle  will  not  be  long  ! 

But  I  must  come  back  to  our  soldiers.  We 
were  soon  on  our  way  to  the  front,  and  brought 
up  at  Martinsburg,  and  here  commenced  the  real 
soldiers'  life. 

It  seemed  so  strange  to  me,  I  had  to  obey  a 
little  fellow  I  could  almost  eat,  when  he  said: 
Fall  in,  fall  in  for  squad-drill ;"  and  I  had  to 
run  and  step  just  when  this  little  fellow  told  me. 
I  thought  to  myself:  ''Is  this  what  is  called 
soldiering  ?"  I  said  to  some  of  them  :  ''I  thought 
we  came  here  to  fight  somebody?"  and  was 
told  I  would  get  enough  fighting  before  I  got 
through.  Well,  we  drilled,  drilled,  and  drilled, 
and  dug,  scraped,  shoveled,  and  threw  up  breast- 
works and  rifle-pits. 

Some  may  ask :  What  did  you  do  all  this 
work  for  ?  All  this  drilling,  marching,  running, 
and  digging,  do  n't  whip  any  body  ?  What 's 
the  use  any  way?"  I  answer,  and  say  it  was 
right ;  it  taught  the  soldier  how  to  do  those  things 
which  he  would  have  to  do  if  he  was  a  soldier. 


6o 


TWICE  BORN. 


The  Christian  soldier  who  enlists  to  fight  the 
devil  must  be  on  hand  at  drills,  must  help  throw 
up  breast-works,  dig  rifle-pits,  and  it  won't  do 
for  him  to  say:  "O,  I  have  no  time  for  prayer- 
meeting,  or  class-meeting,  or  to  visit  among  my 
neighbors ;  I  have  no  time  for  these  things,  for 
I  am  a  hospital  steward."  This  won't  do.  God 
help  and  save  the  good  soldiers  who  enlist  to 
fight  the  devil,  and  strengthen  all  the  hospital 
stewards ! 

We  soon  got  marching  orders  to  go  to  that 
Gibraltar^  Harper's  Ferry,"  which  could  have 
been  held  against  all  comers,  only  for  General 
Miles's  weak,  false,  and  almost  timid  judgment. 

We  marched  with  song  and  laughter  for  a 
while,  and  it  was  very  nice ;  but  a  gun,  knap- 
sack, haversack,  five  days'  rations,  a  canteen, 
and  sixty  rounds  of  amunition,  with  a  hot  sun, 
a  hot  day,  and  roads  full  of  dust,  soon  put  a  stop 
to  all  singing  and  laughter. 

It  is  nice  to  be  a  soldier.  When  you  start  from 
home  people  give  you  flowers  and  cheers  and  loud 
hurrahs;  but  in  this  march  we  saw  something  of 
the  soldier's  life  as  it  is — men  throwing  them- 
selves down  tired  out,  and  the  sides  of  the  road 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


6l 


littered  with  guns  and  knapsacks.  O,  the  sun! 
We  would  not  walk  in  the  sun  and  carry  all  the 
load.  "  Why  do  n't  the  captain  wait  until  night, 
and  let  us  walk  in  the  cool  of  the  night?"  we 
asked  each  other.  We  enlisted  to  fight,  and  not 
to  die  in  this  way,"  we  murmured  ;  and,  "  If  you 
stay  right  in  this  road  here  about  ten  hours,  you  will 
have  all  the  fight  you  want,"  some  one  shouted. 
I  was  not  used  to  walking  and  carrying  such  a 
load,  so  when  we  had  gone  along  forty  or  fifty 
miles,  I  met  one  of  the  natives,  and  asked  him 
how  far  it  was  to  Harper's  Ferry.  He  said  :  It 
is  a  right  smart  distance,  I  reckon — more  than 
two  looks  and  a  shout ;"  so  I  concluded  if  it  was 
as  far  away  as  that,  I  would  go  the  rest  of  the 
way  flying  light."  Then  I  threw  all  I  carried 
into  the  ditch  by  the  roadside.  Some  of  the 
boys  asked  me  what  I  would  do  when  we  got 
to  Harper's  Ferry,  and  I  said  :  "  We  are  going  to 
war  to  fight,  and  when  the  fight  comes  on,  some 
one  will  want  to  go  to  the  hospital,  and  I  will 
borrow  his  gun ;  then  when  we  have  licked  the 
enemy  I  will  help  myself  to  what  I  want.  If 
we  get  licked,  I  have  nothing  to  lose." 

Well,  we  were  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle  two 


6^ 


TWICE  BORN. 


or  three  times,  but  there  was  no  enemy  to  fight 
after  all. 

*'0  dear!"  said  I,  ^' this  is  the  sickest  fight- 
ing I  ever  got  into.  Why  do  n't  they  stop  and 
throw  mud  at  us  or  something  like  that.  I  am 
sick  of  this  kind  of  fighting." 

I  knew  but  little  about  what  a  soldier  was, 
and  what  he  had  to  go  through,  but  I  realized 
everything  when  we  got  to  Harper's  Ferry,  and 
staid  there  until  Stonewall  Jackson  had  us  sur- 
rounded. We  were  taken  prisoners — some  thirty 
thousand  were  paroled,  and  were  sent  on  to 
Chicago  to  Camp  Douglass. 

And  here,  let  me  say,  I  saw  so  much  work- 
ing for  money  and  self,  and  so  little  of  patriot- 
ism, that  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  when  the 
regiment  went  back,  I  would  not  go  with  it.  I 
said  to  myself:  ''They  do  not  care  down  South 
where  they  shoot  or  who  they  hit,  and  I  do  not 
feel  anxious  to  die  for  my  country,  a  country 
which  had  been  so  good  to  me  as  to  lock  me  up 
the  best  part  of  my  life."  It  seemed  to  me  that 
I  did  not  owe  my  life  to  my  country ;  so  when 
we  began  to  get  ready  to  go  back  (after  we  were 
exchanged),  I  stayed  at  Chicago. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


63 


And  now  let  me  speak  of  one  who,  through 
God,  has  been  my  Savior.  That  one  is  my  noble 
and  loved  wife,  whom  I  first  met  in  Chicago, 
while  our  regiment  was  at  Camp  Douglas. 

I  asked  her  to  marry  me  almost  as  soon  as  I 
made  her  acquaintance,  and  I  got  the  consent 
of  her  mother  and  brothers.  Her  father  was  a 
very  hard  drinking  man,  and  her  home  was  not 
a  happy  one  on  his  account ;  but  he  is  dead,  and 
we  will  let  him  rest.  We  were  married,  and 
lived  together  pleasantly  for  some  time.  I  went  to 
work,  for  I  now  had  some  one  to  take  care  of.  I 
said  to  myself :  "  They  do  n't  know  me  here,  and 
I  will  live  an  honest  life  and  do  right."  So  I 
worked  in  a  cracker-bakery,  making  hard-tack 
for  the  soldiers,  and  I  said :  "  We  can 't  all  go 
to  war ;  some  of  us  must  stay  behind  and  make 
things  for  the  boys  to  eat."  I  worked,  making 
hard-tack  some  time ;  then  I  went  firing  on 
the  railroad,  then  in  the  round-house,  then  down 
to  the  freight-depot. 

One  day  a  man  came  to  the  depot  and  asked 
if  my  name  was  Wills.  (I  had  not  changed 
my  name,  and  I  now  believe  it  was  either  my 
wife's  father,  or  one  of  her  sisters  that  notified 


64 


TWICE  BORN. 


the  authorities.)  I  confessed  that  Wills  was  my 
name,  and  the  man  told  me  that  the  provost- 
marshal,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  wanted 
to  see  me.  Never  showing  any  fear,  I  put  on 
my  coat  and  started  with  him,  asking  him  what 
was  wanted.  The  man,  whom  1  knew  to  be  a 
detective,  said  he  did  not  know,  and  we  walked 
on.  The  officer  was  not  careful,  or  he  would 
have  put  the  bracelets  on  me  at  first.  However, 
we  crossed  the  bridge  together,  and  just  as  we 
reached  the  corner  of  Lake  and  Water  Streets,  I 
saw  a  woman  coming  toward  us.  I  told  the  officer 
that  I  knew  that  young  lady,  and  wished  to  speak 
to  her  a  minute.  I  stopped  her,  and  got  her  be- 
tween myself  and  him  ;  then  I  threw  her  against 
him,  and  took  down  Water  Street ;  but  there  were 
too  many  on  the  street,  and  he  soon  had  me  again. 
Then  he  did  what  he  ought  to  have  done  in  the 
first  place;  he  put  the  ^'darbies"  on  me,  and  I 
was  soon  in  Camp  Douglas  again.  After  a  few 
days  we  were  sent  to  Cincinnati,  where  Joe  Hooker 
commanded,  and  were  put  in  the  military  prison, 
where  I  remained  until  they  found  what  regiment 
I  belonged  to,  when  they  made  up  a  train-load 
and  sent  us  on  to  the  front.    My  regiment  was 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


67 


at  Gettysburg.  All  went  well  until  we  got  to 
Harrisburg.  Here  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I 
had  got  about  as  near  to  the  front  as  I  wanted 
to  be ;  so,  after  it  was  dark,  I  changed  from  one 
track  to  another,  and  instead  of  going  on  to 
Gettysburg,  I  was  taken  to  New  York,  and  so 
on  up  the  river  to  Troy. 

I  did  not  put  up  at  the  Troy  House,  or  call 
on  those  in  authority,  but  went  to  see  my  cousin, 
where  I  staid  over  night.  In  the  morning  I  started 
West,  got  as  far  as  Buffalo,  and  stopped  to  see 
how  they  run  things  there. 

They  were  making  it  so  nice  for  the  boys  there, 
I  thought  I  would  like  some  of  it  myself;  so  I  took 
a  man's  place  in  the  ranks,  whose  business  was 
so  pressing  at  home  that  he  could  not  leave ; 
besides,  he  had  a  bone  in  his  leg,  which  made  it 
difficult  for  him  to  walk.  This  man  agreed  to 
pay  me  a  certain  sum  if  I  would  go  and  be  a 
patriot  for  him ;  so  I  took  the  name  of  John  Far- 
rell,  and  once  more  moved  on  towards  the  front 
to  whip  the  ''Johnnies." 

We  were  sent  first,  however,  to  Camp  Elmira, 
where  we  staid  about  a  month,  and  had  a  good 
time,  but  were  soon  ordered  to  the  front ;  arrived 


68 


TWICE  BORN. 


in  New  York  City,  took  a  transport  vessel  for 
Alexandria.  O,  the  first  night  out  was  a  won- 
derful night !  The  boat  was  loaded  with  bounty- 
jumpers  ;  a  good  many  were  farmers  and  country 
people,  besides  a  lot  who  had  not  been  in  this 
country  long,  and  did  not  know  how  we  did 
things  here.  Well,  I  was  with  two  more  who 
were  like  myself,  and  I  promise  you  we  did  not 
sleep  much  that  night !  What  a  sight  there  was 
in  the  morning  !  Men  that  went  to  sleep  with 
from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars  in  their 
pockets,  awoke  in  the  morning  with  the  same 
pockets  empty,  while  we  had  suddenly  become 
rich.  I  do  n't  take  any  pride  in  writing  these 
things  now ;  but  how  can  I  tell  what  a  Savior 
has  done  for  me,  unless  I  tell  all  the  horrible 
things  which  he  has  made  me  hate,  and  which 
he  has  saved  me  from?  ''I  will  praise  thee,  O 
Lord,  my  God  with  all  my  heart :  and  I  will 
glorify  thy  name  for  evermore."  (Psa.  Ixxxvi,  12.) 

We  arrived  in  due  time  at  the  front,  where 
my  two  pals  and  myself  staid  about  two  months, 
when  we  concluded  to  take  a  journey  home  with- 
out waiting  for  advices  from  Washington.  So 
we  just  dropped  out  of  the  line,  and  let  the  army 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


69 


go  on.  We  went  back  to  Baltimore,  and  so  on 
to  New  York  again.  I  stopped  in  the  city 
briefly  to  get  rested,  and  then  started  on  West. 
My  wife  had  brothers  in  Cleveland,  so  I  bought 
a  ticket  for  that  city.  Just  as  we  got  to  Elmira 
the  car-door  opened,  and  who  should  walk  in 
but  my  captain.  It  did  not  take  me  long  to 
get  out  of  that  car  and  say  good-bye  to  the  train. 

I  thought  I  would  let  him  go  on,  and  not  try 
to  stop  him,  while  I  remained  behind  to  bring 
on  the  baggage. 

At  last  I  arrived  at  Cleveland,  and  went  to 
inquire  about  my  wife.  I  learned  that  she  had 
heard  that  I  was  dead,  and  had  gone  on  to 
Troy.  Soon  I  had  the  wires  at  work,  and  in  a 
few  days  we  were  brought  together  again. 

God  bless  my  dear  wife,  and  he  has  wonder- 
fully blessed  her,  both  in  health  and  home,  and 
in  every  way ! 

Well,  I  once  more  tried  to  be  honest,  and 
earn  an  honest  living,  and  did  after  a  fashion.  For 
about  eighteen  months  I  worked  at  almost  every- 
thing, braking  on  the  railroad,  firing  and  run- 
ning an  engine,  etc. ;  but  I  remembered  how  I 
used  to  have  such  big  money,  and  it  seemed  to 


70 


TWICE  BORN. 


me  that  every  body  was  having  all  they  wanted, 
while  every  thing  was  very  high.  My  wife  was 
not  well,  and  I  wanted  more  money  than  I 
earned,  so  I  threw  up  my  job,  went  into  the 
bounty-broker's  business,  taking  chances  in  the 
drafts,  and  once  more  I  had  . lots  of  boodle,  and 
nothing  to  do  but  spend  it. 

I  joined  the  fire  department  as  minute 
man,"  and  was  connected  with  it  some  three 
or  four  years,  and  was  presented  by  the  boys 
with  a  silver  cup,  the  tragedian,  the  late  John 
McCullough,  making  the  presentation  speech  on 
the  stage  of  the  Cleveland  Theater,  John  Bllsler 
and  Clara  Morris  being  on  the  stage  also.  I 
made  lots  of  money,  and  spent  it  as  fast  as  I 
made  it,  until  the  war  was  over. 

I  have  forgotten  to  speak  of  one  incident, 
but  will  do  it  now.  In  one  of  the  drafts  I  was 
the  lucky  one,  and  was  drafted.  The  boys  thought 
they  had  the  laugh  on  me,  for  at  this  time  sub- 
stitutes were  worth  one  thousand  five  hundred 
to  two  thousand  dollars.  Now  is  the  time, 
Wills,"  said  the  boys,  when  a  bank  account 
would  be  a  good  thing;"  for  before  this  I  used 
to  tell  the  boys  that  as  long  as  I  could  talk  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


73 


walk,  I  did  not  want  any  bank  account,  because 
as  long  as  I  had  brass  in  my  face,  silver  in  my 
tongue,  and  a  dollar  in  my  pocket,  I  could  start 
and  go  around  the  world  with  the  dollar,  and 
have  hundreds  of  dollars  when  I  should  reach 
the  end  of  my  journey. 

The  boys  thought  for  sure  that  I  was  in  a  fix ; 
but  I  knew  a  trick  that  none  of  them  were  up 
to,  and  have  never  told  any  one  about  it  until  now. 

I  knew  that  the  law  of  the  land  was  that  no 
felon  would  be  taken  in  the  army ;  so  I  laid  the 
facts  of  my  case  before  the  provost-marshal, 
gave  him  the  proofs  that  I  had  served  ,two  terms 
in  State  prison,  and  got  my  discharge.  This 
made  me  more  popular  than  ever,  for  they 
thought  that  I  stood  in  "  with  the  provost,  and 
I  got  more  work  to  do  than  the  others,  and  made 
it  pay  first  rate. 

After  the  war  was  over,  I  worked  for  a  whole- 
sale grocery  and  cheese-house,  selling  to  the 
city  trade.  I  was  still  in  the  fire  department. 
After  about  three  years  the  firm  took  in  a  new 
partner  who  had  been  a  whisky-distiller,,  and  I 
now  had  to  sell  whisky  in  addition  to  the  other 
goods. 


74 


TWICE  BORN. 


And  here  is  where  the  devil  got  in  his  work. 
He  got  hold  of  me  again  through  the  whisky. 
I  worked  for  these  men  about  two  years ;  then 
the  devil  put  it  in  my  heart  to  run  away  with 
all  the  money  I  could  lay  hands  on.  As  I  was 
salesman  and  collector,  I  had  the  handling  of  all 
the  money  from  the  city  trade.  I  had  used  my 
collections,  and  knew  I  could  not  pay  it  back ; 
so  I  sold  my  home,  collected  all  that  was  stand- 
ing out,  and  left  my  wife  and  went  back  to 
Troy — to  the  very  place  that  was  the  most  hate- 
ful to  me.  I  had  to  go  to  this  hateful  place,  be- 
cause Satan  had  got  me  again  through  the 
whisky. 

O,  no  one  but  Satan  could  have  made  me  do 
these  things  which  I  tell  of!  After  I  had  been 
in  Troy  about  three  weeks,  I  had  dropped  al- 
most all  the  money  I  had.  Then  I  sent  to  my 
wife's  brother  to  send  on  my  wife,  and  not  let 
the  police  get  on  "  to  it.  But  the  police  were 
not  asleep ;  they  w^ere  watching  for  just  such  a 
move,  and  when  my  wife  left,  a  letter  followed 
her.  When  she  stopped  in  Troy,  the  letter  also 
stopped. 

I  took  my  wife  to  my  cousin's,  who  was  a 


H,  O.  WILLS. 


75 


detective,  and  while  I  was  at  supper  with  my 
sisters  and  my  aunt,  my  cousin  called  me  out 
and  asked  me  what  I  had  been  doing  in  Cleve- 
land. I  said  I  had  done  nothing.  He  then 
showed  me  a  hand-bill  offering  a  reward  for  me ; 
and  I  had  to  spend  the  night  and  two  days  in 
jail,  when  the  officers  came  on  and  took  me  back 
to  Cleveland. 

It  will  do  no  one  any  good  to  tell  how  I  got 
out  of  this  scrape.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  I  had 
one  member  of  the  firm  on  the  hip,  as  we  call 
it,  and  I  told  him  if  he  prosecuted  I  would 
squeal  on  him;  and  so,  after  a  time,  I  was  let 
out  on  bail,  myself  being  the  bail. 

I  worked  it  smart  again,  and  got  into  the 
fire  department,  and  made  lots  of  money  out  of 
it ;  but  I  won't  tell  how  I  made  it,  because  it  will 
do  no  good,  and  it  might  lead  others  to  do  the 
same.  I  lived  off  from  it  a  whole  summer,  and 
it  took  lots  of  money  to  keep  me ;  but  they 
tumbled  to  "  it  at  last,  and  I  was  "done  up" 
in  the  department.  They  could  do  nothing  to 
me,  however,  in  the  line  of  punishment, 

I  now  went  to  the  oil-region  to  take  charge 
of  oil-wells,  which  I  did  for  two  weeks ;  then  I 


76 


TWICE  BORN. 


turned  speculator  myself.  And  money!  O 
my,  cords  of  it !  Wonderful !  Talk  about  Cali- 
fornia, it  was  nothing  to  Oil  City  and  that  region 
in  '65  and  '67.  Money,  barrels  full  of  it;  and  I 
knew  how  to  get  it,  but  not  how  to  keep  it.  I 
lived  like  a  prince,  and  we  made  things  fly. 

Would  to  God  I  had  that  money  now  to  put 
in  my  Master's  cause !  But  it  is  gone,  and  all 
other  things  we  then  had  are  gone  away  from 
us.  For  God  says:  "If  we  come  unto  him,  he 
will  put  away  our  sins  as  far  as  the  east  is  from 
the  west."    (Psa.  ciii.) 

Next  I  took  up  one  of  my  old  trades,  one  I  have 
not  yet  mentioned.  It  was  faking,  or  street  ped- 
dling; and  I  was  called  one  of  the  best,  because, 
they  said,  my  tongue  was  hung  in  the  middle,  and 
I  never  got  tired  of  talking,  drinking,  or  fight- 
ing. I  went  from  city  to  city,  and  finally  brought 
up  at  Cincinnati.  I  was  selling  a  can-opener — 
the  first  in  the  market,  and  they  sold  as  fast  as  I 
could  make  change.  I  sold  out  of  an  open  car- 
riage, the  harness  on  the  horses  being  covered 
over  with  tin  cans,  all  cut  up  with  the  knife  I 
was  selling.  This  exhibition  attracted  great 
attention. 


H.  a  WILLS. 


79 


About  now,  however,  the  devil  told  me  I 
must  do  something,  so  as  to  get  into  another 
scrape.  It  was  election  time,  and  I  thought  it 
would  be  smart  for  me  to  swear  in  my  vote,  and 
help  the  Democratic  party  win. 

The  devil  thought  so  too,  and  as  we  both  agreed, 
I  did  it,  and  got  the  ^'collar"  for  it;  had  to  lie 
in  jail  about  a  month  before  I  was  tried,  and 
then  I  got  another  month  without  a  fine. 

Here,  let  me  say,  I  learned  something  of  the 
frisky  little  bed-bug.  I  used  to  watch  them  and 
see  how  they  worked.  They  are  about  as  smart 
and  scheming  as  the  smartest  saloon-keeper  on 
earth..  If  they  failed  to  do  a  thing  the  first 
time,  they  tried  it  again  and  again,  until  they 
made  it  out.  It  put  me  in  mind  of  a  story  my 
mother  used  to  tell  me,  when  I  was  a  little  boy, 
about  a  good  king  somewhere,  who  had  to  hide 
in  a  cave  or  something,  because  his  people  were 
so  wicked  and  wanted  to  kill  him.  Now,  this 
good  king  had  tried  lots  of  ways  to  make  his 
people  do  right,  but  always  made  a  failure;  and 
here  he  was  in  the  cave,  almost  ready  to  die, 
because  he  was  discouraged.  After  a  while  he 
saw  a  spider  try  to  swing  himself  ofiT  from  the 


8o 


TWICE  BORN. 


wall  to  another  wall;  but  he  failed  to  reach  it. 
He  crawled  back  and  tried  again ;  failed  again. 
He  did  this  a  good  many  times,  and  after  a 
while  he  got  there.  Then  my  mother  told  me 
how  the  king  said  to  himself  that  he  would  n't 
give  it  up  till  he  had  tried  as  many  times  as  the 
spider  did;  so  he  went  out  of  the  cave,  and 
finally  gained  the  victory. 

Now,  the  spider  is  smart;  so  is  the  saloon- 
keeper; he  generally  gets  there.  What  he 
do  n't  know  about  getting  a  poor  man's  money 
and  blood  is  not  worth  knowing.  I  would  not 
trust  him  any  sooner  than  I  would  a  bed-bug. 
They  are  both  after  blood. 

After  I  had  served  my  time  and  got  out,  I 
left  the  city  for  good.  They  could  not  appre- 
ciate my  patriotism  in  offering  myself  up  on  the 
altar  of  my  country.  It  does  not  do  to  appre- 
ciate these  things  after  the  election  is  over,  and 
you  have  been  caught.  Of  course  it  is  all  right, 
if  they  do  n't  catch  you  at  it;  but  if  they  do  catch 
you,  it  is  a  crime  which  everybody  must  sit 
down  on. 

Then  I  went  back  to  Cleveland,  but  thought 
I  would  try  Chicago,  and  see  if  I  could  not 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


8l 


make  a  fortune  there.  I  have  said  before  that 
almost  anybody  can  steal,  but  it  takes  a  smart 
man  to  hide;  and  I  say  further,  any  man 
that  has  brains,  if  he  sets  out  to  do  it,  can  make 
money,  but  it  takes  a  man  with  more  brains  to 
keep  it  after  he  has  it. 

Well,  I  went  to  Chicago  with  the  can-opener, 
and  I  made  money,  as  I  did  in  the  oil  regions, 
and  spent  it  in  about  the  same  way  as  I  did 
there.  I  believe  if  I  had  been  like  some  men  I 
could  have  been  a  millioniare  to-day ;  but,  sup- 
pose I  had  become  one,  the  question  is,  Would  I 
,   know  Jesus  as  I  do  now  know  him? 

I  worked  Chicago  until  it  seemed  to  me  that 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  city  had  a 
can-opener,  so  I  had  to  find  something  new. 
This  I  did,  and  in  handling  the  new  article,  I 
found  that  Barnum  was  right  when  he  said  ^'  that 
the  American  people  were  the  easiest  people  on 
earth  to  be  humbugged*"  I  have  proved  the  truth 
of  these  words  of  Barnum  in  a  great  many  ways. 
I  have  sold  perfume  made  of  paraffine  and  oil  of 
wintergreen  or  bergamot,  and  done  up  in  tin- 
foil, which  sold  for  twenty-five  cents  a  package, 
and  only  cost  five  mills;  that  is,  sold  for  two 


82 


TWICE  BORN. 


hundred  and  fifty  mills  an  article  which  cost  five 
mills.  I  sold  a  non-explosive  coal-oil  powder, 
made  of  colored  salt,  for  twenty-five  cents  a  box. 
It  cost  me  three  mills.  I  sold  the  California 
diamond  polish,  said  to  have  been  made  in  San 
Francisco,  and  good  for  all  things,  but  in  reality 
made  of  Akron  water-lime.  This  polish  sold  for 
three  dollars  per  dozen,  and  it  could  be  bought 
for  a  dollar  and  a  half  per  barrel.  One  of  the 
best  sellers  I  had  in  Chicago,  after  the  can- 
opener,  was  a  fan.  Only  think  of  men  buying 
fans  in  the  dead  of  winter ;  but  they  did,  and 
they  bought  of  me.  I  had  almost  the  first  that 
were  made.  They  were  called  the  Magic  Fan 
(they  are  very  common  now).  It  pulled  open 
from  a  tube-shaped  handle  with  a  cord  and  tas- 
sel; and  pulling  on  the  other  end  would  close  it 
again.  It  would  have  surprised  even  Barnum  if 
he  could  have  seen  how  I  sold  those  fans  that 
winter. 

Now,  friends,  I  was  working  all  this  time ;  still 
I  was  ''crooked,"  and  would  steal  when  the  op- 
portunity offered  itself;  but  I  was  very,  very 
watchful  and  careful,  for  I  did  not  want  to  do 
any  more  time,  and  I  never  have. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


83 


People  often  wonder  how  tlie  crooks  know 
wKere  a  man  carries  his  money,  and  how  thieves 
can  get  into  their  houses  and  know  where  the 
valuables  are  kept.  Now,  suppose  you  are  trav- 
eling on  the  cars,  or  you  are  waiting  in  the  depot. 
The  "  mob,"  as  it  is  called,  is  made  up  of  three 
or  five  persons,  who  travel  together.  One  of 
these  is  called  the  *'wire,"  and  it  is  his  business 
to  "go  through  "  you,  and  get  your  money.  It  is 
done  in  this  way:  The  ''mob"  comes  into  the 
car  or  depot,  and  cries:  "Look  out  for  pick- 
pockets!" Any  man  having  money  on  his  per- 
son, and  not  up  to  the  trick,  will,  on  hearing  the 
alarm,  put  his  hand  at  once  over  the  pocket  that 
holds  the  cash.  Doing  this,  till  that  good-look- 
ing gentleman,  the  "wire,"  who  has  an  eye  like  a 
hawk,  sees  just  where  to  put  his  hand  and  get  what 
he  wants.  Then  the  "mob,"  or  one  member  of 
it,  cries  out  for  passengers  to  take  the  next  car  for 
such  and  such  a  place,  or  "change  cars,"  "all 
aboard,"  or  something  of  the  kind,  and  when  the 
people  make  a  rush  to  get  in  the  right  car,  the  gang 
will  crowd  about  the  door  and  push,  while  the 
nice  man  just  behind  you,  or  the  one  coming 
in  while  you  are  trying  to  get  out,  has  taken 


84 


TWICE  BORN. 


your  money.  Suppose  you  have  your  hands  in 
your  pockets,  with  your  pocket-book  in  your 
hands;  all  the  thieves  have  to  do  is  to  push 
each  other  and  rush  you  about;  then  one  of 
them  will  hit  you  on  the  top  of  the  head  and 
drive  your  hat  down  over  your  eyes.  Out  come 
your  hands  to  lift  your  hat  so  you  can  see.  Your 
pocket  is  unguarded,  and — biff  1 — your  money  is 
gone,  and  the  crowd  also. 

So  beware  of  the  cr}',  ^'Pickpockets!"  either 
in  the  car  or  depot.  Keep  your  hands  still ! 
Do  n't  tell  them  where  you  keep  your  money. 
To  do  this  will  sometimes  require  an  effort,  be- 
cause most  men,  knowing  where  their  money  is, 
find  that  their  heart  is  there  also.  ^'For  where 
your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be  also.'' 
(Luke  xii,  34.) 

I  have  seen  a  man  who  was  smart — at  least  he 
thought  he  was  —  and  after  a  "mob"  had 
"worked"  a  depot,  and  eight  or  ten  people  had 
lost  their  wealth,  he  was  saying,  "What  fools 
the  traveling  public  are!"  and  all  such  talk. 
W"hen  the  conductor  came  along  for  tickets,  this 
man  would  put  his  hand  in  his  pocket  to  get 
the  book  that  held  his  ticket,  only  to  jump  to 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


85 


his  feet  and  shout:  ''I  have  been  robbed!'' 
Probably  the  very  man  he  had  been  giving  the 
talk  to  about  his  smartness  had  gone  through 
him  while  he  was  telling  it,  to  pass  the  pocket- 
book  to  his  pal  in  the  next  seat  behind  him, 
and  he  to  another,  and  so  on,  until  one  of  them 
would  go  with  it  into  the  water-closet,  where  he 
would  skin  it.  That  is,  he  would  take  the 
money  out,  and  drop  the  book  on  the  track. 

In  this  way  thieves  do  their  work,  and  it  is 
but  one  of  a  hundred  equally  dishonorable 
schemes. 

I  begaft  by  this  time  to  get  tired  of  Chicago; 
and,  as  I  had  found  another  great  fake  or  hum- 
bug with  which  to  gull  the  people,  I  started  to- 
wards Cleveland.  In  that  city  lived  one  whom 
I  had  promised  to  cherish  and  protect,  which 
promise  I  had  failed  to  keep — my  wife.  I  had 
been  away  from  her  a  couple  of  years,  and  she 
had,  through  her  brothers,  made  application  for 
a  divorce,  and  had  disposed  of  her  furniture,  but 
had  not  yet  got  the  pay  for  it.  So,  when  I  got 
to  Cleveland,  and  we  had  talked  things  over, 
she,  with  all  the  love  in  her  heart  of  a  true  wife, 
wanted  me  to  go  away  from  Cleveland  with  her 


86 


TWICE  BORN. 


to  some  place  where  we  were  not  known,  so  that 
we  could  start  on  a  new  life. 

The  new  thing  which  I  was  now  selling  was 
a  "  Fountain  Pen."  The  composition  was  called 
"oroid  gold,"  and  it  was  a  wonderful  thing  to 
sell.  I  told  my  wife  I  would  take  a  trip  down 
through  the  oil  regions  with  it,  and  when  I  came 
back  we  would  move  away  from  Cleveland  and 
begin  a  new  life.  I  wanted  to  do  what  was 
right,  but  did  not  know  how  to  begin.  In  my  heart 
I  believed  in  God  and  in  Christ,  because  my 
mother  had  taught  me  when  a  little  boy.  There 
is  something  most  wonderful  about  how  a  wicked 
man  will  think  of  the  good  and  true  things 
which  a  Christian  mother  taught  him  when  he 
was  a  little  bit  of  a  kid;  but  they  will  do  it 
every  time.  Since  I  have  been  in  the  service 
of  our  blessed  Redeemer  I  have  seen  so  many 
instances  which  prove  this  to  be  true,  that  I 
know  for  sure  that  the  teachings  of  a  good 
mother  can  never  be  wiped  out. 

Well,  I  went  down  through  the  oil  regions, 
but  the  times  were  changed ;  it  was  not  like  the 
old  times,  when  everybody's  pocket  was  full  of 
money;  but  I  had  a  sight  after  all,  for  I  had  a 


H,  O.  WILLS. 


87 


good  selling  thing,  and  didn't  let  grass  grow 
under  my  feet.  There  were  twelve  pens  in  a 
box,  with  a  pen-holder,  and  the  outfit  sold  for 
fifty  cents,  at  a  cost  of  but  six  cents.  There  was 
hardly  a  business  man  who  would  not  take  it  in 
his  hand  and  give  it  a  trial ;  and  if  he  did  that, 
I  knew  I  was  sure  of  his  fifty  cents,  because  it 
worked  as  smoothly  as  a  gold  pen,  and  would 
write  four  pages  of  note-paper  with  one  penful 
of  ink. 

If  I  had  known  how  to  keep  money,  it  would 
have  beem  a  Bonanza  to  me;  but,  after  all,  I  was 
doing  better,  because  I  really  wanted  to  have  a 
home  with  my  wife  again.  My  wife  and  I  both 
loved  children,  but  had  none  of  our  own.  I 
believe  that  God  saw  that  we  loved  children,  for 
he  induced  us  to  adopt  four,  two  of  whom  have 
died ;  but  we  have  two  left,  who  now  belong  to 
the  Lord. 

I  had  good  luck,  and  was  soon  back  in  Cleve- 
land. We  recovered  our  furniture,  and  I  made 
arrangements  to  go  to  Detroit  and  see  what  kind 
of  a  place  it  was.  If  it  suited  me,  we  decided 
I  was  to  rent  a  house,  and  send  for  my  wife.  I 
came  on,  and  looked  the  city  over,  and  said,  I 


88 


TWICE  BORN. 


will  drop  anchor  right  here.  I  rented  a  house 
on  Beacon  Street,  our  furniture  came  on,  I  got 
ready  for  my  wife  and  a  home  again,  and  we 
were  soon  in  good  shape,  and  very  happy.  I 
had  a  snap  on  the  town  as  street  fakir,  because 
no  one  could  get  on  to  the  place  where  I  got 
my  pens;  and,  besides,  I  sold  so  many  that  the 
dealers  in  Philadelphia  would  not  let  any  one  else 
handle  them  where  I  intended  to  stop.  I  used 
to  work  a  couple  of  hours  a  day,  and  make  three 
or  four  dollars,  and  then  lie  around.  One  of  the 
first  men  I  got  acquainted  with  in  Detroit  was 
Kd.  Sweeney,  now  an  ex-alderman.  Well,  lo- 
cating at  Detroit  in  the  winter,  I  worked  the 
town  pretty  well,  also  Windsor  and  Chatham. 
Finding  a  good  field  in  Canada,  I  sold  out  in  De- 
troit, and,  with  my  wife,  started  for  a  trip  through 
the  Dominion.  I  worked  London  and  Toronto, 
and  left  my  wife  in  London,  while  I  run  up  the 
line  to  Goderich,  working  all  the  towns,  mak- 
ing money,  and  having  a  good  time  in  gen- 
eral. My  wife  joined  me,  and  we  went  on  to 
Sarnia,  working  the  towns,  and  enjoying  our- 
selves w^ell.  Leaving  my  wife  there,  I  worked 
out  on  the  difierent  branches  of  the  road,  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


89 


over  to  Port  Huron.  From  this  point,  my  wife 
and  I  went  to  Milwaukee,  and  I  left  my  wife  in 
that  city  while  I  worked  the  State  of  Wisconsin. 
In  the  fall  we  came  back  to  Detroit.  Leaving 
my  wife  in  Detroit,  I  took  a  trip  back  to  Wis- 
consin; worked  on  up  to  St.  Paul,  and  then 
down  the  river;  and,  with  what  I  made  and  beat 
others  out  of,  I  came  home  in  the  spring  pretty 
well  fixed. 

We  now  bought  furniture  and  went  to  house- 
keeping again ;  for  I  had  decided  to  stay  perma- 
nently in  Detroit,  and  not  rove  about  any  more. 
I  said  to  myself:  "The  first  thing  you  know, 
Wills,  you  will  get  careless,  as  in  your  younger 
days,  and  think  you  know  it  all,  and  then  you  '11 
have  to  do  time  again;  then  what  will  your 
wife  do?"  Said  I:  This  won't  do;  it  must 
stop." 

At  this  time  my  wife  was  not  in  good  health, 
and  I  loved  her,  because  she  was  so  good  and 
true,  and  stood  by  me  in  all  my  waywardness. 
She  was  a  woman  who  would  have  died  for  me ; 
and  may  God  ever  bless  her! 

So  I  said  to  her:     I  am  going  to  try  and  get 

work,  and  live  square,  and  be  a  man."    I  began 
8 


90 


TWICE  BORN. 


on  Woodward  Avenue,  and  visited  every  store, 
looking  for  a  job  as  salesman ;  then  I  took  Jef- 
ferson Avenue,  and  went  in  every  wholesale 
notion-house  on  the  street,  to  always  get  "No" 
for  an  answer.  I  do  n't  wonder  that  all  the  an- 
swers were  no  at  that  time;  for,  two  years  after 
this,  when  I  had  secured  a  place,  my  employer, 
W.  H.  Shaw,  said  to  me  one  day:  "Wills,  do 
you  know  what  I  took  you  for  that  day  you  ap- 
plied to  me  for  a  job?"  I  said  I  did  not,  and  he 
continued :  "I  took  you  for  a  pickpocket  or  a 
burglar,  for  you  had  that  look."  He  had  "sized 
me  up  "  pretty  well,  and  no  mistake. 

I  must  tell  how  I  finally  came  to  get  into  his 
employment.  His  place  was  at  No.  162  Jeffer- 
son Avenue.  I  went  in  and  asked  of  the  head 
clerk  if  they  wanted  a  salesman.  He  said.  No. 
By  this  time  I  was  about  discouraged ;  but  he 
began  to  talk,  and  asked  me  where  I  was  born, 
and  when  I  told  him  Troy,  he  seemed  another 
kind  of  man  altogether.  After  talking,  we  found 
that  we  were  old  playmates,  and  had  lived 
on  the  same  street  when  boys.  Well,  he  asked 
me  if  I  had  any  letters,  and  I  told  him  I  had  a 
hat  full  of  them.    I  guess  if  Mr.  Shaw  had  read 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


91 


one  of  them,  he  would  not  have  felt  like  trust- 
ing much  of  his  wealth  with  me. 

This  man's  name  was  James  Deering,  and  he 
proved  to  be  a  friend  at  the  right  time.  May- 
God  bless  him  !  He  told  me  to  come  in  the  next 
morning,  and  I  was  on  hand.  Deering  told  me 
Mr.  Shaw  was  in  the  office ;  and  I  went  back 
there,  and  took  off  my  hat,  which  was  a  thing 
I  hardly  ever  did  to  anybody.  I  asked  him  if 
he  wanted  a  salesman.  O,  how  he  did  look  me 
over !  I  looked  more  like  a  cow-boy  than  a 
competent  salesman;  but  Deering  had  put  in 
some  fine  work  in  the  way  of  talking,  which  had 
fixed  things.  Mr.  Shaw  asked  me  if  I  had  ever 
sold  notions,  and  I  told  him  I  had  not,  but  that 
the  thing  had  not  yet  been  made  by  the  hands 
of  man  or  woman  which  I  could  not  sell,  and 
that  he  would  find  it  out  if  he  would  only  try 
me.  Just  at  this  point  in  the  game,  Deering 
came  in  and  put  in  a  word  about  how  he  ought 
to  have  some  one  to  sell  goods  in  the  city,  as  it 
was  a  good  trade  and  cash  ;  no  four  months' 
business  about  it,  like  the  country  trade,  but 
clean  cash,  and  could  be  worked  up  big. 

Mr.  Shaw  did  not  ask  to  see  my  hatful  of 


92 


TWICE  BORN. 


recommendations.  If  lie  had,  I  do  n't  believe 
I  would  be  writing  about  these  things  now. 
He  did  ask,  however,  if  I  could  give  security  foi 
the  samples.  I  had  thirteen  dollars,  which  was 
the  bulk  of  my  wealth  ;  so  I  told  him  how  I  was 
fixed,  and  how  I  had  a  sick  wife.  He  told  me 
to  come  in  the  next  morning ;  so  I  went  home. 
I  do  n't  know  what  Deering  told  him,  but  when 
I  went  in  next  morning,  Mr.  Shaw  made  up  a  lot 
of  samples,  and  told  me  how  to  work.  I  was 
to  have  twelve  cents  commission  on  every  dollar. 
The  first  day  out  I  made  four  dollars.  I  had  to 
sell  and  then  deliver  the  goods,  and  collect  the 
money.  I  worked  in  this  way  and  did  well,  some- 
times making  as  high  as  twelve  dollars  a  day,  and 
Shaw  was  not  long  ignorant  of  how  I  did  things. 

One  day  he  called  me  up-stairs  and  said  he 
wanted  to  talk  with  me.  Now,  I  was  some- 
thing on  a  talk  myself,  so  I  said,  All  right," 
and  we  went  up.  He  asked  me  how  I  would 
like  to  work  by  the  year,  he  to  furnish  me  a 
horse  and  buggy.  I  finally  agreed  to  work  for 
eight  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  from  that  time 
I  worked  for  him  until  he  failed  in  business. 
He  was  one  of  the  best,  most  generous,  and 


H.  O,  WILLS. 


93 


kind-hearted  men  I  ever  knew,  and  could  I 
have  helped  him,  I  would  have  done  it,  because 
he  was  a  true  friend  to  me.  I  pray  God  to 
bless  him  and  his  forever. 

The  goods  which  I  handled  for  Shaw  were 
sold  in  grocery-stores,  and  almost  every  grocery 
I  went  in  had  a  bar-attachment.  After  the  first 
year  I  began  to  drink  and  mix  in  ward  politics. 
Now,  every  body  knows  that  beer,  whisky,  and 
ward  politics  mixed  and  stirred  up  together,  and 
taken  in  big  doses  day  after  day,  is  the  very 
best  prescription  the  devil  has  for  his  patients. 
Satan  justf  dotes  on  that  prescription ;  it  is  his 
big  card,  his  leader,"  and  he  knows  how  to 
play  it  for  all  it  is  worth.  Do  n't  let  us  ever 
forget  that.  The  more  I  took  of  this  prescrip- 
tion, the  more  I  did  n't  get  any  better.  I  soon 
got  to  be  the  old  original  Wills,  of  Troy,  of 
Cleveland,  and  Chicago.  I  was  always  in  a  fight, 
if  I  could  get  in,  and  I  got  my  share  of  slugging. 

I  had  a  large  city  trade  and  a  large  acquaint- 
ance. I  spent  money  as  I  always  did.  I  had  a  bad 
deal  one  day.  I  was  driving  down  the  Gratiot 
road,  and  a  German  ran  into  my  buggy  and 
bent  the  axle.    I  jumped  out  to  stop  him,  and 


94 


TWICE  BORN. 


taking  hold  of  his  horse,  I  held  him,  and 
would  n't  let  him  go  until  he  told  his  name. 
This  he  would  not  do,  and  just  then  a  gang  of 
his  countrymen,  who  were  digging  a  cellar, 
gathered  around  us,  and  began  the  fun  by  yell- 
ing out,  "Kill  him,  kill  him!  Take  the  horse 
away !"  and  they  crowded  around  me  till  it 
looked  as  though  there  was  going  to  be  trouble. 
I  was  alone ;  but  I  was  bound  to  keep  the  horse 
until  I  knew  who  was  to  pay  the  damages,  and 
they  were  determined  to  either  get  the  horse  or 
kill  me.  I  made  up  my  mind  if  I  was  to  be 
killed  that  I  would  not  go  on  the  journey  alone  ; 
so  I  pulled  out  my  knife  and  opened  the  blade 
with  my  teeth,  and  told  the  leader:  "All  I  ask 
is  the  name  of  the  man  who  owns  this  horse, 
and  I  am  going  to  know  before  I  let  go.  If  you 
and  your  friends  want  to  kill  me,  I  won't  charge 
you  a  cent ;  so  just  drive  your  crowd  along 
as  fast  as  you  can."  They  did  not  move,  but  a 
man  who  was  in  front  of  me  came  up  and 
said :  "  Wills,  let  the  horse  go,  and  I  will  tell 
you  his  name  and  where  he  lives."  Accordingly 
I  let  go  and  started  for  my  buggy.  Then  the 
crowd  surrounded   me.    I  saw  I  was   in  for 


H.  a  WILLS. 


95 


it ;  so  I  pulled  out  the  knife  again.  One  man 
tried  to  be  my  friend  by  throwing  his  arms 
around  me,  while  the  whole  gang  rushed  on  me 
with  paving-stones  and  clubs.  Then  I  went  to 
work  myself,  and  made  a  slash  at  the  leader, 
Fashnute,  to  cut  his  throat.  I  missed  it,  and 
the  knife  only  cut  his  arm.  He  struck  at  me 
again  with  a  club  while  the  others  were  at  me. 
I  made  another  slash  at  him,  intending  to  cut  off 
his  head,  but  missed  and  the  knife  went  in  the 
top  of  his  shoulder,  and  came  out  at  his  wrist, 
making  a'^cut  the  whole  length  of  his  arm.  Then 
they  scattered  like  sheep.  I  can  see  it  all  now — 
how  God  kept  me  and  preserved  my  life. 

I  was  arrested,  tried,  and  found  guilty  of 
simple  assault,  and  it  was  lucky  that  the  charge 
was  no  greater,  or  I  would  have  gone  over  the 
road,  for  every  man  in  the  gang  swore  falsely. 
I  was  fined  twenty-five  dollars  for  a  thing  for 
which  I  was  not  to  blame. 

Right  here  was  where  Mr.  Shaw  stepped  in 
and  stood  by  me  ;  and  I  believe  to-day  as  I  write, 
that  it  is  through  him  and  his  influence  that  I 
was  saved.  His  kindness  helped  to  keep  me 
sober  about  six  months. 


96 


TWICE  BORN. 


But  how  could  I,  without  the  grace  of  Al- 
mighty God  to  help  me,  keep  from  drinking 
when  every  place  where  I  sold  goods  had  liquors 
to  sell  ?  I  wanted  to  be  a  good  man,  in  my  heart  I 
wanted  to  do  right  and  be  at  home  with  my  family, 
but  the  devil  was  in  me.  Sometimes  he  would  let 
me  alone  for  a  season,  and  I  would  get  along  fine  ; 
then  he  would  seem  to  drive  me  further  and 
further  away  from  what  was  right.  After  work- 
ing for  Mr.  Shaw  for  about  four  years,  he  failed, 
and  was  bought  out  by  Jacob  Brown,  for  whom 
I  worked  about  four  years.  Mr.  Brown  was  an- 
other man  who  was  like  a  father  to  me. 

I  was  pretty  straight  for  a  couple  of  years ; 
but  in  the  end  I  was  about  as  bad  a  man  as 
there  was  on  earth.  When  I  was  in  liquor  I  do 
believe  I  was  even  meaner  that  the  devil  himself. 
Joe  Berger  (now  a  captain  of  the  Detroit  police) 
used  to  say,Wills  wasthe  meanest  and  most  tantal- 
izing devil  at  the  election-polls  that  the  devil  had 
in  his  whole  army.  Many  a  time  I  have  felt  that  I 
would  love  to  club  Joe  to  death ;  I  was  just  aching 
all  over  to  do  it ;  but  when  I  kept  sober  and  was 
straight  I  had  no  such  feelings.  So  it  was  not 
Wills  after  all^  but  the  devil  which  was  in  Wills. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


97 


My  employer  would  tell  me  :  Wills,  do  n't 
drink  any  for  three  or  six  months,  and  I  will 
give  you  one  hundred  dollars."  I  would  start 
in  on  it  in  good  faith,  and  in  a  week  or  two 
something  would  turn  up  to  make  me  mad,  and 
off  the  track  I  would  go  again.  Then,  when  I 
would  send  word  down  to  the  store  that  I  was  sick, 
they  knew  just  as  well  as  I  did  that  I  had  been 
drinking,  got  into  a  fight,  and  was  either  cut  all 
up,  or  my  head  was  pounded  all  out  of  shape. 

Well,  this  good  man  stood  it  a  long  time,  but 
finally  s^id,  "I  can't  and  I  won't  stand  it  any 
longer,"  and  he  let  me  go.  Then  I  swore  I 
would  never  drink  again,  and  I  did  keep  sober 
for  a  time. 

I  did  not  stay  idle  long,  for  I  had  a  big  city 
trade;  and,  though  I  drank  and  was  mean  at 
times,  I  was  pretty  well  liked.  You  see,  I  spent 
money  and  worked  hard  for  my  friends  at  elec- 
tion times,  and  I  held  my  trade  against  all 
comers  for  fourteen  years.  A  good  many  dif- 
ferent men  tried  to  run  me  out,  but  it  was  no 
use ;  they  could  n't  do  it. 

When  I  kept  sober  I  always  had  a  good 

home  and  well  furnished,  and  took  good  care 
9 


98 


TWICE  BORN. 


of  my  wife  and  children.  They  had  the  best  in 
the  market ;  for  I  was  always  a  good  liver  my- 
self, and  thought  more  of  my  stomach  than  I 
did  of  a  bank  account.  A  few  weeks  after  my 
discharge  by  Brown,  I  was  employed  by  S.  Simon 
&  Co.  May  God  ever  bless  Mr.  Simon  and  Ike 
Mendelssohn,  his  present  partner!  How  hard 
they  tried  to  make  a  man  out  of  a  mean  devil ! 
What  patience  they  had!  When  I  think  of 
what  those  two  men  bore  from  me,  it  makes  me 
wonder.  A  stranger  would  have  thought,  had 
he  seen  me  at  times,  that  I  owned  the  store,  the 
way  I  went  on.  These  gentlemen  are  He- 
brews, and  they  were  the  straightest  men  I  ever 
knew.  I  pride  myself  on  knowing  something 
of  human  nature,  and,  as  such  a  judge  of  men, 
pronounce  these  men  t7^ue  blue. 

If  I  should  write  all  summer  I  could  not  tell 
all  they  did  for  me.  They  were  as  good  to  me 
as  they  ever  could  be  to  one  of  their  own  family. 
I  was  with  them  five  years. 

I  forgot  to  tell  of  an  incident  which  hap- 
pened to  me  just  before  I  went  through  Canada, 
and  as  it  will  illustrate  the  kind  of  people  I 
sometimes  met  with,  I  will  tell  it  here. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


99 


I  was  canvassing  along  on  Jefferson  Avenne, 
and  went  into  the  Linn  Brothers'  store  to  show  the 
gentlemen  what  I  had.  I  asked  one  to  try  my 
pen,  telling  him  it  would  write  four  pages  of 
note-paper  with  one  penful  of  ink.  He  asked 
me  if  1  had  time  to  wait  until  he  wrote  four 
pages,  and  I  said  I  had,  taking  off  my  hat  and 
sitting  down.  The  gentleman  began  to  write 
and  ask  questions.  Where  did  I  live?  Where 
was  I  born  ?  How  many  cities  had  I  lived  in  ? 
How  long  had  I  been  selling  pens  ?  Was  I  mar- 
ried ?  Did  I  have  children  ?  I  suppose  he 
wanted  to  see  if  he  could  tire  me  out ;  but  I 
did  not  tire,  for  I  knew  I  had  my  man.  I  knew 
I  was  making  money  while  I  sat  there.  At 
last  he  said:  I  guess  it  will  do  all  you  say 
it  will,  and  I  will  take  a  box  ;  how  much  will 
it  be?" 

"  Fifty  cents,"  said  I  ;  and  I  shoved  him  a 
box,  with  twelve  pens  and  a  holder. 

"All  right ;  I  will  take  it,"  he  said.  Just  as 
I  was  going  out,  he  called  :  "  Hold  on  ;  I  be- 
lieve my  book-keeper  would  like  a  box,"  and 
he  took  it.  Then  he  continued :  "  Now  I 
have   taken    a  good  deal    of    your  time,  and 


lOO 


TWICE  BORN. 


have  the  pens,  and  you  have  the  money;  now, 
really,  how  much  do  the  pens  cost  you  a 
box?" 

I  told  him   six   cents,   and  he  responded: 
Humph!  no  wonder  you  can  spare  lots  of  time 
for  a  person  to  write  four  pages ;  no  wonder. 
Humph !  six   cents !     No    wonder    you  have 
time." 

"  Dear  sir,  do  n't  go  mad,"  I  said.  "  Here  is 
your  money  back  if  you  want  it;  and  the  pens, 
too,  if  you  want  them."  I  was  not  such  a  guy 
as  to  lay  the  money  down  for  him,  you 
may  bet. 

"  No,  sir  ;  no,  sir.  Good  morning,  good  morn- 
ing," and  he  showed  me  out  of  the  office. 

Now,  this  is  only  one  example  of  what  I 
have  seen  and  of  the  men  I  have  met.  There 
was  lots  of  fun  in  the  business.  Some  would  say : 
Git ;  or  we  '11  throw  you  out !"  (and  I  would 
think,  What  will  I  be  doing  all  the  time  ?)  Others 
would  say  "  yes  "  at  once  to  get  rid  of  me  ; 
others  would  chat  sociably  and  not  buy;  and  yet 
others  would  be  gruff  enough  to  sour  milk,  and 
yet  buy  my  goods.  But  to  come  back  to  the 
time  I  was  employed  by  Simon  &  Co.    T  had  some 


H.  O.  WILLS, 


lOI 


WONDERFUI.  ESCAPES  FROM  DEATH. 

O,  how  good  is  God,  that  he  has  spared  my 
life !  I  hope  and  pray  to  be  able  to  prove  to 
these  good  men,  and  all  that  know  me,  that  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  lowly  Nazarene,  is  the  true 
Messiah.  I  hope  to  prove  this  by  the  life  I  live 
through  him,  for  without  him  I  can  do  nothing. 

To  show  how  God  spared  my  life  on  one  oc- 
casion, I  will  relate  an  incident.  While  I  was 
with  Simon  &  Co.  I  was  out  one  Friday  after- 
noon. This  day  always  being  the  longest  day 
I  worked,  I  had  finished  my  sales  and  was  on 
my  way  home,  when  I  stopped  at  a  place  on  the 
Gratiot  road  to  get  a  glass  of  beer.  While 
standing  at  the  bar  drinking,  with  no  thought  of 
a  fight  at  all,  a  clothing  merchant,  of  whom  I 
had  bought  the  coat  I  had  on,  came  up,  and,  be- 
ing drunk,  asked  me  how  much  I  had  paid  him 
for  the  coat  I  had  on  my  back.  I  told  him  I 
had  paid  him  about  one-half  more  than  it  was 
worth.  The  words  were  hardly  out  of  my 
mouth,  when  a  man  who  was  in  a  gang  of  five 
drinking  at  a  table  behind  me,  stepped  up  and 
said  I  was  a  liar,  and  had  not  paid  that  much." 
Before  these  words  were  cold,  I  crammed  them 


I02 


TWICE  BORN. 


down  his  throat,  and  then  the  whole  gang  pitched 
into  me.  I  soon  had  the  saloon  empty ;  and, 
thinking  it  w^as  all  over,  I  was  drinking  wnth 
the  proprietor,  when  a  man  came  in  and  told 
me  that  the  men  were  still  outside  and  were 
going  to  kill  me  ;  but  that  if  I  would  go  out 
the  back  way  he  w^ould  bring  my  horse  around 
to  me  on  the  other  street.  I  asked  him  if  he 
ever  knew  me  to  sneak  out  the  back  way,  and 
said:  ''No,  sir!  no,  sir!  I  shall  go  out  where 
I  came  in — at  the  front  door ;  and  if  they  kill 
me,  you  can  bet  there  will  be  more  than  one 
funeral.  So  I  went  out  and  started  for  my  rig 
that  stood  in  front.  These  men  had  been  at 
work  repairing  the  water-works,  and  had  lots 
of  picks  and  tools  outside.  So,  as  I  started  for 
my  rig,  the  man  w^hom  I  had  first  hit  came  to- 
wards me  with  a  stone-hammer,  but  I  caught 
him  before  he  struck  me  ;  held  him  with  one 
hand,  while  I  punished  him  with  the  other. 
While  I  w^as  at  w^ork,  another  man  struck  me 
on  the  head  w^ith  a  monkey-wrench,  and  another 
man  struck  me  from  behind  with  a  pick-handle, 
splitting  the  back  of  my  head,  and  knocking 
me  senseless  for  the  instant.    As  I  fell  on  my 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


knees,  the  man  I  was  fighting  with,  having  a 
chance  to  use  his  stone-hammer,  hit  me  in'  the 
front  of  my  head,  and  this  last  blow  brought 
me  to  life,  as  it  were.  Then  I  jumped  to  my 
feet  as  though  nothing  was  the  matter  with 
me,  and  soon  had  the  gang  in  flight. 

To-day,  as  I  think  of  it,  it  seems  to  me  that 
God  was  watching  over  me ;  for  one  man  seem- 
ingly killed  me  with  a  pick-handle,  and  the 
other  man  brought  me  to  life  with  a  stone- 
hammer,  w^hicli  made  a  hole  big  enough  to  lay 
your  finders  in.  I  had  the  sorest  head  I  ever 
had  in  my  life,  and  I  have  had  some  bad  ones 
during  that  time.  I  got  an  awful  talking  to  by 
my  employers  and  by  my  poor,  dear  wife.  It  is  a 
wonder  that  she  is  alive  to-day.  I  now  went 
from  bad  to  worse,  until  Mr.  Simon,  like  Mr. 
Brown,  told  me  that  if  I  did  not  stop  drinking 
and  fighting  and  getting  into  trouble  every  day, 
I  would  have  to  quit.  After  this,  I  tried  to  hold 
up  a  little,  but  it  was  no  use;  I  soon  got  into 
one  of  the  worst  scrapes  I  ever  had.  It  hap- 
pened in  the  same  place  where  the  last  thing 
happened,  only  it  was  now  kept  by  the  notori- 
ous Tom  Keenan. 


I04  TWICE  BORN. 

I  called  in,  as  I  did  before,  to  get  a  drink, 
and  as  before,  it  was  on  Friday,  and  Keenan's 
wife  was  'tending  bar,  and  there  were  three 
men  in  the  place.  One  of  these  men  was  quar- 
reling with  her  about  some  pool  money,  which 
she  claimed  he  owed  her,  and  this  man  called 
her  bad  names.  I  asked  him  how  he  dared  call 
a  woman  names  such  as  that,  and  he  gave 
some  answer  back,  at  which  I  slugged  him  in 
the  jaw  just  once  ;  but  he  showed  no  fight  nor 
the  others  who  were  with  him. 

I  believe  if  I  had  known  him  I  would  not 
have  been  so  quick ;  but  whenever  I  saw  a 
woman  insulted  by  a  man,  I  never  stopped  to 
get  an  introduction  before  hitting  that  man. 

Well,  I  thought  no  more  of  it.  The  men 
went  into  the  back  room,  where  the  man  whom 
I  had  hit  was  washing  himself. 

Tom  Keenan  had  now  come  in,  and  I  stood 
with  one  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  the  other 
on  the  counter,  talking  to  him,  when  two  of 
the  men  run  out  of  the  door  as  though  they 
had  been  shot.  Soon  an  officer,  who  was  in  cit- 
izen's clothes,  came  in,  and  asked  me  what  was 
the  matter.    He  had  seen  my  horse  and  rig  out- 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


J  07 


side,  and,  seeing  the  two  men  run  out,  he  said  to 
himself:  "Here  is  trouble."  I  told  him  that 
there  was  nothing  the  matter,  only  a  fellow  had 
insulted  Keenan's  wife,  and  I  had  hit  him  in  the 
jaw — that  was  all.  While  we  were  talking,  the 
man  whom  I  had  hit  came  in  a  side  door,  just 
behind  me,  with  a  big  hunting-knife,  and,  be- 
fore I  knew  it,  drove  it  into  my  side  twice. 
Detective  Tuttle  was  the  officer  ;  he  gave  the 
man  a  trip,  and  had  a  handcuff  on  one  wrist 
before  he  knew  he  was  an  officer.  Then  he  be- 
gan  to  kick  ;  but  Keenan  put  his  knee  on  his 
neck,  and  the  man  put  up  his  other  hand,  and 
was  fast. 

This  was  the  closest  call  I  ever  had,  and  foi 
three  or  four  days  all  was  dark ;  but  God  in  his 
mercy  watched  over  me,  and  I  got  well. 

Some  time  later  I  found  out  that  the  man  I 
had  hit,  and  who  knifed  me,  was  a  brother-in- 
law  to  Ed.  Gillman,  and  that  his  name  was 
Charles  Moore.  He  was  then  about  as  bad  as 
they  make  them.  The  police  wanted  him  out 
of  the  way  and  advised  me  to  push  him  through  ; 
but  Ed.  Gillman  was  my  true  and  good  friend, 
and  had  been  for  a  long  time.    Well,  he,  with 


TWICE  BORN. 


others,  came  and  talked  it  over  with  me.  They 
pictured  to  me  how,  if  I  pushed  the  matter, 
Moore  would  get  from  ten  to  fifteen  years,  and 
how  his  old  mother  loved  him,  and  how  his  wife 
was  Ed.'s  sister.  They  offered  to  pay  for  my 
time  and  my  doctor's  bill  while  I  was  laid 
up,  and  so  I  "  let  up  "  on  him.  I  told  Gillman 
that  which  I  had  never  told  any  one  in  the  West ; 
I  told  him  all  about  my  past  life,  how  I  had 
done  time,"  and  all  about  it,  and  told  Ed.  that 
if  it  was  necessary  at  the  trial,  he  could  bring 
up  my  record,  and  thus  help  to  get  Moore  clear. 

However,  it  was  not  necessary  to  do  this 
after  all;  for  Hon.  Wm.  C.  Maybury,  Moore's 
lawyer,  got  him  off  with  a  fine  of  one  hundred 
dollars,  and  I  was  not  given  away. 

God  knows  how  I  would  like  to  win  Gillman 
and  some  others  like  him  over  to  His  cause.  I 
do  pray  that  I  may  live  so  close  to  Jesus,  and 
follow  him  so  truly  and  honestly,  that  these  men 
will  finally  believe  in  him.  I  want  to  hear  Gill- 
man and  that  class  of  men  say  :  Show  me  thy 
ways,  O  Lord,  teach  me  thy  paths !"  "  Lead 
me  in  thy  truth  and  teach  me,  for  thou  art  the 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


109 


God  of  my  salvation  ;  on  thee  do  I  wait  all  the 
day."    (Psa.  xxv,  4,  5.) 

Look  at  the  case  of  Ben.  Hogan.  By  the 
grace  of  Almighty  God  he  no  longer  does  evil, 
but  is  the  servant  of  the  Most  High  God,  and 
is  trying  to  do  good  with  all  his  might. 

After  I  got  well,  I  did  a  little  better  for  a 
while ;  but  it  did  not  last,  and  I  went  from  worse 
to  worse,  until  Mr.  Simon,  my  good  friend,  could 
stand  it  no  longer  ;  and  while  I  was  in  Cleveland 
on  a  visit,  he  discharged  me,  and  sent  postal- 
cards  to  all  i^y  customers  that  I  was  no  longer  in 
his  employ.  Accordingly,  when  I  got  home,  I 
found  myself  out  in  the  cold. 

Mr.  Simon  and  his  partner  are  both  good  and 
true  friends  to  me  now,  and  I  have  asked  them 
since  I  have  been  converted,  whether  had  they 
known  that  I  had  been  a  professional  burglar 
and  general  thief  all  my  life,  the)^  would  have 
trusted  me  with  their  money  as  they  did. 

They  said  they  would  not  have  trusted  me  had 
they  known  this,  but  that  now  they  would  trust 
me  with  any  amount.  So  we  see  what  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  able  to  do  when  it  can  change 


IIO 


TWICE  BORN. 


such  a  miserable  man  as  I  was,  so  that  even  those 
men  who  do  not  believe  in  his  name  would  trust  a 
man  who  was  a  confessed  thief  from  childhood. 
What  a  power  there  is  in  Christ !  Surely,  "  it  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
that  believeth."    (Rom.  i,  i6.) 

After  my  discharge  I  thought  I  was  "  done 
up,"  as  I  had  been  in  Cleveland ;  but  I  began  to 
look  around,  and  people  knew  that  I  could  make 
money  for  them  if  I  would  attend  to  business  and 
stop  drinking. 

I  got  Messrs.  Jacobson,  Hertzog  &  Co.  to  give 
me  a  trial.  They  were  another  lot  of  honest 
men,  square  all  through,  and  real  good  friends 
to  me.  Mr.  Simon  was  angry  with  me  because 
I  had  acted  so  badly,  and  he  tried  to  persuade 
them  not  to  employ  me,  because  he  knew 
I  would  take  my  trade  to  any  store  where  I 
worked,  the  same  as  I  had  brought  it  to  him  from 
Mr.  Brown's  store ;  but  I  promised  the  firm  I  never 
would  drink  again  if  they  would  give  me  a  trial. 
They  concluded  to  try  me,  and  I  went  to  work 
for  them.  I  was  all  right  and  kept  my  word 
about  a  month,  when  I  was  drinking  just  as  bad 
as  ever. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


Ill 


O,  how  Mr.  Hertzog  pleaded  with  me  to  do 
right !  May  God  bless  him  and  all  that  belongs 
to  him  for  the  good  advice  which  he  gave  me ! 
What  chances  I  have  had  to  be  somebody,  and 
what  friends  I  have  had  to  help  me !  It  seemed  to 
me  that  this  man  could  do  more  with  me  than 
any  man  I  ever  worked  for;  for  after  he  had 
talked  to  me,  I  always  held  up  for  a  while,  but 
the  devil  would  get  me  again.    I  now  come  to 

THE  GREAT  TURNING  POINT 

of  my  life.-*  As  I  have  said  before,  I  was  always 
at  the  caucuses  and  conventions,  and  to-day,  as 
I  sit  and  write  this  account,  I  believe  the  mean- 
est of  all  devils,  and  worse  than  all  thieves  on 
earth,  is  the  low  ward  politician,"  He  will 
steal  the  votes  and  stuff  the  ballot-box,  and  an 
honest  man  has  no  more  chance  in  a  caucus 
than  the  devil  has  of  getting  to  heaven. 

One  of  the  greatest  things  I  have  to  regret, 
among  so  many  hundreds  which  I  do  regret,  is 
that  I  was  a  Democratic  howler  and  thief.  I 
do  n't  say,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  all  Demo- 
crats are  thieves.  Horace  Greeley  once  said  that 
all  horse-thieves  were  Democrats,  but  all  Demo- 


112 


TWICE  BORN. 


crats  were  not  horse-thieves.  I  say  that  all 
Democrats  are  not  as  bad  as  I  was.  I  never 
could  see  much  difference  between  the  Repub- 
lican and  the  Democratic  ward  politician ;  but  I 
honestly  believe,  from  what  I  have  seen,  that 
the  very,  very  little  difference  is  in  favor  of  the 
honesty  of  the  Republican.  I  learned  so  much 
about  both  parties  that  I  knew  the  victory  would 
always  be  where  the  money  was. 

Now,  before  I  tell  about  the  great  turning 
point  in  my  life,  which  I  spoke  of,  which  was 
just  after  the  fall  caucus,  October  25,  1883,  where 
I  had  done  my  share  of  stealing  votes,  I  wish 
to  talk  about  some  of  the  terrible  things  I  have 
been  through ;  things  which  I  have  suffered, 
because  I  was  so  wicked,  and  things  which  I 
have  not  yet  spoken  of 

I  have  been  showered  with  ice-cold  water, 
out  of  the  mines ;  I  have  worn  the  ball  and 
chain  ;  I  have  been  bucked,  and  I  have  worn  the 
iron  collar  with  a  padlock  to  keep  it  on,  and  it 
needed  no  starch  to  keep  it  stiff. 

O,  what  terrible  punishments  I  have  had ! 
But  I  never  squealed  or  hollered  in  my  life  but 
twice.     Once  in  Clinton  Prison,  when  I  was 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


113 


locked  up  in  the  dungeon;  and  once  in  Detroit, 
which  Iwill  tell  about  when  I  write  the  story  of 
the  turning  point  in  my  life.  This  story  will  tell 
how  God  manifested  himself  to  me. 

I  have  often  wondered  that  but  one  man  in 
Detroit  ever  spoke  to  me  about  hell.  This  one 
man  was  W.  H.  Suite.  He  used  to  say  to  me, 
*'  Wills,  you  are  surely  going  to  hell  if  you  keep 
on  in  the  way  you  are  going,"  and  I  would  an- 
swer:  "All  right;  I  will  have  lots  of  company 
when  I  get  there."  And  now,  whenever  I  tell 
the  wicked  what  God  says,  "  The  wicked  shall 
be  cast  into  hell,  and  all  the  nations  that  forget 
God  "  (Psa.  ix,  17),  some  of  them  answer  me 
as  I  did  Suite — -that  they  will  have  lots  of  com- 
pany. 

Now  as  to  the  time  I  was  locked  up  in 
the  dungeon  in  Clinton  Prison.  This  dungeon 
was  a  hell.  On  each  side  of  me  was  a  cell,  and 
both  were  occupied.  Above  me  was  another, 
while  in  front  a  guard  passed  every  half  hour. 
Still  there  was  no  compan}^  for  me.  No  man 
can  describe  how  awful  it  is.  Imagine  yourself 
in  a  bank-vault,  with  the  door  shut  on  you,  and 

you  aware  of  the  fact  that  they  had  lost  the 

10 


114 


TWICE  BORN. 


combination,  are  certain  that  you  will  never  get 
out.  Do  you  think  either  the  guard  outside  or 
those  above  and  around  you  would  be  any  com- 
pany for  you  ?  O,  how  dark  my  dungeon  was  ! 
So  black  and  dark  was  it  that  it  seemed  thick 
with  black  space,  and  full  of  lifeless  air.  No 
company  for  me.  If  we  continue  in  our  wicked- 
ness, and  do  not  repent  of  our  sins,  the  darkness 
of  a  dungeon  will  be  bright  sunlight,  compared 
to  the  terrible  darkness  of  hell,  where  the  wicked 
will  surely  go. 

I  used  to  think  in  those  days  that  I  had  a  little 
sand,"  and  could  stand  punishment,  but  it  was 
nothing.  We  had  a  prisoner  called  Tom  Kelly 
who  was  the  devil  in  the  flesh — like  Christ  was 
the  Lord  in  the  flesh.  He  was  sent  to  Sing 
Sing  from  New  York  City  for  twenty  years  for 
burglary  in  the  first  degree,  but  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  Clinton  Prison,  because  they  could  do 
nothing  with  him.  He  was  always  trying  to  es- 
cape, and,  always  failing,  invariably  got  punished 
for  the  effort.  After  he  was  in  the  Clinton  Prison 
a  week  or  two,  he  resumed  his  schemes  and 
working  to  escape,  and  kept  right  on  getting 
punishment.    They  would  shower  this  man  until 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


"5 


he  was  drowned,  then  bring  him  to.  The  reader 
can  have  no  conception  how  terrible  this  punish- 
ment is.  Hands  and  feet  in  stocks,  neck  and  head 
in  a  trough  filled  with  ice-cold  water,  and  with  a 
towel  packed  around  your  neck  so  that  the  water 
comes  up  around  your  mouth.  Then  the  keeper 
begins  to  talk  to  you.  He  asks  if  you  will 
behave,  and  the  minute  you  speak  he  pulls  the 
string,  and  you  do  n't  have  a  chance  to  catch 
your  breath.  The  little  breath  you  have  is  taken 
away  by  the  rush  of  cold  water,  and  it  do  n't 
take  long  to  drown  you. 

Now,  when  the  man  Kelly  was  served  in  this 
way,  and  was  brought  to  all  shaking  and  shiver- 
ing, as  though  his  teeth  would  rattle  out  of  his 
head,  they  would  ask  him  if  he  would  behave 
himself.  He  would  take  a  breath,  and  then  spit 
in  their  faces.  Next,  they  would  buck  and  gag 
him.  To  do  this,  they  would  handcuff  Kelly's 
wrists  together  tightly.  Then  they  made  him 
sit  on  the  stone  floor  of  the  cell,  with  his  heels 
drawn  as  closely  to  his  buttocks  as  possible,  thus 
forcing  his  knees  close  up  to  his  breast.  Then  his 
fastened  hands  would  be  passed  over  his  knees, 
an  arm  on  either  side  of  his  legs.    Next  a  short 


Ii6 


TWICE  BORN. 


iron  bar  would  be  passed  through,  over  the  arms 
and  under  the  knees,  and  there  he  was  abso- 
lutely helpless.  Next  a  wooden  gag  would  be 
put  in  his  mouth,  and  tightly  fastened  there  by 
means  of  cords  passing  around  either  side,  and 
tied  at  the  back  of  the  head.  Thus  restrained, 
and  with  no  support  except  the  floor,  Kelly  would 
sit  upright  as  long  as  possible,  and  then,  through 
pure  fatigue,  fall  over  to  one  side  or  the  other, 
and  lie  there  until  some  keeper  would  come 
along  and  set  him  up  again.  It  is  a  hellish  pun- 
ishment, and  becomes  absolute  torture  in  a  very 
short  while. 

But  Kelly  was  a  man  of  iron  will,  and  with 
the  disposition  of  a  bull-dog.  Of  course  he  could 
not  speak  while  bucked  and  gagged,  and  when 
they  would  take  out  the  gag  that  he  might  say 
whether  or  not  he  would  behave,  he  would  again 
spit  in  their  faces. 

The  keeper  would  say  :  Will  nothing  tame 
this  man  ?"  Then  I  heard  some  of  them  say : 
"  Yes,  yes  ;  forty-eight  hours  in  the  dungeon  will 
make  even  this  devil  crawl  over  the  stone  flags 
in  the  hall  of  the  prison,  and  beg  like  a  whipped 
school-boy.    So  into  the  dungeon  he  goes." 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


117 


Let  me  tell  how  one  feels  while  in  this  dun- 
geon. It  seems  as  though  the  walls  were  coming 
together,  and  that,  closing  in  on  you,  you  would 
soon  be  in  a  stone  coffin,  unable  to  move  a  finger. 
Then  you  get  so  hungry,  it  seems  as  though 
you  could  eat  a  stone,  and  there,  right  before  you, 
would  appear  tables  loaded  with  food,  rivers  of 
waters,  and  banks  of  fruit,  and  you  not  able  to 
even  touch  a  thing,  or  stoop  to  get  a  drink.  Next 
the  awful  room  would  seem  filled  with  all  the 
devils  in  hell,  who  had  come  for  you  and  were 
dancing  all  around  you,  grinning  and  shooting 
fire-balls  at  you.  You  need  not  shout,  no  one 
can  hear  you ;  the  doors  are  too  thick,  and  the 
walls  are  very  heavily  built  of  stone. 

Well,  this  was  the  hell  where  Kelly  was  put, 
and  when  his  time  was  up  they  asked  him  if 
he  would  behave  himself,  if  they  would  let 
him  out? 

O  God,  yes!"  he  cried  in  terror;  "  let  me 
out !    I  will  behave." 

Thus,  you  see,  may  the  horrors  of  a  dungeon 
on  earth,  made  by  the  hands  of  man,  affect  a 
strong  man.  What  then  must  be  the  suffering 
of  those  to  whom  God  will  say  on  that  great  day, 


Ii8  TWICE  BORN. 

"  Bind  him  and  cast  him  into  outer  darkness," 
where  there  will  be  weeping  and  wailing !  Com- 
pared to  the  sufferings  in  a  dungeon  made  of 
stone,  it  will  be  as  an  ocean  to  a  drop  of  water. 
When  God  locks  the  door  of  hell  on  us,  the  key 
or  combination  is  lost  forever.  I  pray  that  the 
words  which  are  here  written,  by  one  whom  God 
in  his  mercy  has  saved,  may  rescue  some  from 
this  hell. 

I  used  to  say  when  in  prison,  when  the  min- 
ister was  preaching  (and  he  was  a  poor  preacher, 
too) :  "  I  wonder  if  that  man  would  be  preaching 
like  that,  if,  when  a  boy,  he  had  been  obliged  to 
sleep  in  a  fish-stand,  or  under  the  docks,  or  in  a 
dry-goods  box?"  Then  I  would  say:  "I  could 
be  good,  too,  if  some  one  paid  me  for  it,  as  they 
paid  him,  at  the  rate  of  one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars  a  year.  I,  too,  would  be  good  if  I 
had  nothing  to  do  but  go  around  and  talk,  and 
read  the  Bible,  and  get  paid  for  it." 

Well,  friends,  the  time  did  come  when  I,  too, 
went  around  to  preach  and  read  the  Bible,  and  I 
did  not  get  the  one  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars either. 

I  hope  no  man  will  ever  look  to  be  converted 


H,  O.  WILLS. 


121 


just  as  I  was.  Just  rest  on  God's  promised 
word,  and  believe  what  he  says.  I  have  proved 
again  and  again,  that  God  spoke  the  truth  when 
he  said  :  "  Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked  : 
for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap."  Hence  I  say,  once  again,  do  n't  wait  to 
be  converted  just  as  I  was,  because  you  might 
not  live  to  go  through  it.  I  happened  to  have 
*'sand"  enough  to  bear  it,  and  you  might  not 
have  this  "sand."  Don't  wait,  but  believe  in 
God  now. 

Cease  to  do  evil,  and  begin  to  do  well. 

Now,  as  you  read  this  book,  is  the  time  to 
begin.  Take  God  at  his  word,  and  come  to  him 
just  as  you  are ;  in  prison  or  out  of  prison,  God 
will  receive  you,  because  he  has  said  :  "  He  that 
Cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 

On  the  night  of  October  25,  1883,  in  the  city 

of  Detroit,  State  of  Michigan,  I  reached  my  home, 

No.  309  St.  Aubin  Avenue.    I  got  home  early, 

perfectly   sober,  and  in  my  right  mind.  My 

stomach  was  not  out  of  order,  and,  so  far  as  I 

could  tell,  I  was  in  perfect  health.    I  was  a 

great  hand  to  -read  in  bed  ;  and  so  that  evening 

I  went  to  bed  to  read  by  the  light  of  a  large 
1 1 


122 


TWICE  BORN. 


study  lamp  at  the  head  of  my  bed,  and,  as  was  my 
custom,  I  had  my  tobacco  and  cigars  on  a  stand 
at  the  head  of  the  bed.  (I  had  been  for  over 
thirty  years  an  inveterate  user  of  and  slave  to 
tobacco.)  The  stand  near  the  head  of  my  bed 
was  full  of  books,  magazines,  and  papers,  and  not 
one  religious  work  in  the  lot.  My  wife  was  at 
her  sewing  in  the  adjoining  room.  As  I  said,  I 
went  to  bed  early  and  in  my  right  mind,  except 
that  I  had  no  more  thought  of  God  than  that  I 
would  discover  a  method  of  making  six  out  of 
two  and  two.  I  had  been  to  no  meetings,  I  had 
read  no  tracts,  I  had  not  heard  any  preacher  of 
the  gospel,  and  I  do  not  believe  I  had  opened  our 
Bible  since  coming  from  prison,  save  to  look  at 
a  few  pictures  my  wife  kept  there  for  want  of  a 
better  place. 

Thus  what  followed  that  night  can  not  be 
credited  to  any  religious  influence  through  man's 
intercourse  with  man ;  and  neither  may  it  be  at- 
tributed to  anything  I  had  read,  eaten,  or  seen. 
No  one  had  ever  talked  to  me  about  my  soul 
since  my  dear,  dead  mother's  departure,  save 
W.  H.  Suite,  to  whom  I  have  already  alluded 
as  telling  me  I  was  going  direct  to  hell,  sure. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


123 


I  had  not  met  or  talked  with  Mr.  Suite  that  day, 
or  within  a  great  many  days.  You  see,  I  hated 
him  most  bitterly,  and  was  always  on  the  alert 
to  avoid  him.  No,  it  was  not  me  that  hated 
him;  it  was  the  devil,  the  "old"  Wills,  who 
despised  and  would  have  killed  him  had  he 
dared  to  do  such  a  thing. 

About  nine  o'clock  my  wife  came  in  to  go  to 
bed.  I  was  still  reading,  but  as  she  came  in  I 
asked  her  if  there  was  any  nervine  in  the  house ; 
if  she  had  any  valerian  or  other  quieting  medi- 
cine. She  said  she  had  not,  and  so  I  got  out 
of  bed  and  dressed  myself.  Then  I  went  to 
the  drug-store,  two  squares  away,  and  got  a 
bottle  of  valerian  and  returned. 

If  you  were  in  good  health,  and  in  your 
right  mind  when  you  went  to  bed,"  I  think  I 
hear  some  reader  say,  "  and  if  you  had  not  been 
drinking,  and  were  in  every  way  all  right  when 
you  retired,  what  sudden  ailment  had  seized 
you  ?"  you  ask. 

I  will  tell  you.  Call  it  a  whisky  delirium, 
the  tremens,  superstition,  an  overloaded  stomach, 
or  what  you  will,  no  earthly  theory,  no  words 
of  man,  no  human  power  can  cause  me  to 


124 


TWICE  BORN. 


change  my  belief  as  to  the  cause  and  details  of 
the  revelation. 

When  I  returned  from  the  drug-store  I  asked 
my  wife  to  bathe  my  feet,  and  she  did  so.  I 
took  two  doses  of  valerian,  and  returned  to  my 
bed.  Picking  up  my  book,  I  tried  to  resume 
reading,  my  wife  standing  at  the  time  at  the 
bureau.  I  could  not  read ;  I  could  not  lie  still ; 
ever}'  nerve  in  me  was  acutely  sensitive;  the  air 
seemed  to  be  rapidly  becoming  less  and  less 
in  quantity  ;  and,  laying  my  book  down  on  the 
stand,  I  said  to  my  wife :  "  Mamma,  I  am  going 
to  die." 

She  tried  to  appear  unalarmed,  and  smilingly 
turned  to  me,  with:  "Why  do  you  think  so?" 

This  is  the  last  of  Wills,"  I  said.  "I  have 
been  such  a  bad  man,  such  a  devil  all  my  life, 
that  God  is  tired  of  me.  The  book  is  full,  and 
I  am  surely  going  to  die." 

My  wife  tried  to  quiet  me  kindly,  but  I  in- 
sisted; and  as  true  as  there  is  a  God,  I  felt 
that  I  was  dying — that  I  would  die.  I  asked 
her  to  get  the  children,  that  I  might  bid  them 
good-bye ;  and,  realizing  how  bad  a  man  I  had 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


125 


been,  and  feeling  guilty  because  I  had  been  so 
wicked  a  husband,  I  craved  her  pardon,  and 
begged  the  forgiveness  she  so  quickly  gave. 

As  I  talked  with  her,  there  suddenly  appeared 
on  the  ceiling  directly  over  my  bed  a  dazzling 
white  light  about  the  size  of  a  bean.  (Bear  in 
mind  that,  at  the  time,  my  study-lamp  was  burn- 
ing, and  there  was  no  darkness  in  the  room.) 
The  light  on  the  ceiling  increased  in  size,  and 
shaped  itself  until  it  seemed  like  a  large  eye, 
looking  directly  down  on  me.  If  I  could  pray 
always  as  I  began  'to  pray  as  I  saw  the  eye, 
and  as  I  prayed  for  a  long  time  thereafter,  I 
would  now  do  nothing  else.  O  how  I  called  to 
God  to  forgive  me,  a  sinner,  and  how  (remem- 
bering what  I  had  heard  while  in  prison  about 
Christ's  forgiveness  of  the  thief  on  the  cross), 
O  how  I  told  God  that  I  was  a  thief,  and  had 
sinned  against  him,  and  how  I  begged  him  to 
forgive  and  save  me  ! 

As  I  pleaded,  some  invisible  and  irrepressible 
power  gave  me  such  a  shaking  as  could  not 
have  been  duplicated  by  the  combined  efforts  of 
six  men,  each  as  large  as  myself,  and  I  weighed 


126 


TWICE  BORN. 


two  hundred  pounds.  Not  a  hand  touched  me. 
I  was  alone  ;  for  by  this  time  my  wife  had  gone 
for  Dr.  J.  E.  Clark,  my  family  physician. 

What  was  it,  or  who  was  it  that  shook  me  ? 
Do  you  ask  the  question,  or  do  you  say  it  was 
imagination,  a  nightmare,  superstition,  or  delir- 
ium tremens?  Say  what  you  will,  I  got  the 
shaking  up,  and  I  got  it  good!  It  seemed  at 
times  as  though  I  would  go  bang  to  the  ceiling. 
And  sweat !  Well,  I  have  sweat  in  the  foundry, 
I  have  sweat  in  the  dungeon,  but  never  did  the 
perspiration  run  off  from  me  as  it  did  that 
night. 

When  my  wife  reached  Dr.  Clark's  office,  he 
asked  her  what  was  the  matter,  and  she  told 
him  I  was  praying  so  loudly  that  the  whole 
neighborhood  was  out.  He  told  her  that  if 
H.  O.  Wills  was  praying,  she  must  get  some 
other  doctor  or  some  one  else,  as  he  (the  doctor) 
did  not  know  how  to  pray.  So  she  returned,  to 
reach  my  side  just  after  I  had  seen  the  vision  of 
the  eye  a  second  time.  When  she  told  me  what 
the  doctor  had  said,  I  cried:  "Hurry,  mamma; 
hurry  and  bring  Mr.  Suite  here,  quick!" 

So  off  she  went,  and  at  my  request,  for  the 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


127 


man  I  hated  above  all  men  on  earth.  What  did 
I  want  of  him?  I  hear  you  ask  the  question, 
and  it  is  the  question  I  asked  myself  after  my 
wife  had  started  after  him.  Then  I  thought,  in 
fact  I  was  cock-sure,  that  I  would  die  if  I  saw 
the  eye  a  third  time.  I  remembered  that  I  had 
read  in  prison  that  no  man  could  see  God  and 
live,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  twice  seen 
God's  eye,  and  that  each  time  it  looked  me 
through  and  through. 

Finally,  after  a  third  shaking,  and  with  my 
bed  fairly  saturated  with  perspiration,  I  said  to 
myself,  "It  is  almost  over,"  and,  straightening 
myself  out  as  best  I  could,  I  folded  my  hands 
over  my  breast,  so  that  if  I  died  before  my  wife 
returned,  she  would  find  me  laid  out. 

Mr.  Suite's  wife  was  opposed  to  his  coming 
over  in  answer  to  my  request,  because  she  knew 
how  I  had  hated  him,  and  feared  danger;  but 
when  (after  asking  my  wife  what  was  the  trouble) 
she  told  him  I  was  praying,  he  did  not  stop  long. 
I  believe  he  would  have  gone  into  the  portals  of 
hell  had  he  heard  that  some  one  was  there  pray- 
ing to  God  for  help.  You  see,  he  had  himself 
been  snatched  from  hell,  and  was  no  coward. 


128 


TWICE  BORN. 


He  is  to-day  no  coward,  and  doCvS  not  lack  cour- 
age to  do  anything  that  requires  that  qualit)^  in 
doing  God's  service. 

Well,  just  before  Mr.  Suite  entered  my  house 
with  my  wife,  I  saw,  or  seemed  to  see — as  many 
of  my  good  friends  have  asked  me  to  put  it — 
that  bright,  searching  eye  on  the  ceiling,  and 
then  came  such  a  shaking  up  as  put  the  pre- 
ceding shakes  in  the  shade.  Catching  a  view 
of  Mr.  Suite  as  he  entered,  I  cried  :  "  Mr.  Suite, 
I  am  lost!  I  am  lost !  lost  1" 

"Thank  God,  you  are  lost!"  he  cried,  as  he 
stepped  to  my  bedside. 

Even  then  I  thought  I  was  dying,  and  I  said, 
taking  Mr.  Suite's  hand :  "  Have  I  lost  my  senses  ? 
am  I  out  of  my  mind  ?"  and  he  said  I  was  not. 

Be  sure  !"  I  cried.  "  Do  you  think  I  am  crazy; 
do  you  think  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about?" 
He  answered :  "I  am  sure  you  are  sane ;  but 
what 's  the  matter  ?" 

Be  sure  I  have  not  been  drinking  ;  that  I 
have  not  got  the  tremens,  that  I  am  in  my  right 
mind  !"  I  said. 

''Yes,  go  on;  what  is  it?"  said  Mr.  Suite. 

"  Well,"  I  said ;     I  know  there  is  a  God  !  I 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


129 


know  it  for  sure,  because  he  lias  been  here,  and 
I  have  seen  hini." 

Mr.  Suite  said:  Yes,  Wills,  I  know,  too,  that 
there  is  a  God."  And  then,  still  believing  that 
I  had  but  a  short  time  to  live,  I  said  :  "  Mr.  Suite, 
I  want  you  to  tell  the  boys  out  in  the  street  and 
over  in  the  saloon  that  I  died  believing  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  I  know  that  he  is  the 
Christ.  Do  n't  forget  to  tell  them  that  I  died 
believing  in  and  praying  to  him." 

Mr.  Suite  was  sitting  in  a  rocking-chair,  and 
as  I  finished  speaking  he  said  to  me,  in  a 
voice  I  never  heard  him  use  before  or  since ; 
"  Wills,  you  are  not  going  to  die.  God  has  a 
great  work  for  you  to  do.    Will  you  do  it?" 

Yes !"  I  answered.  Then  he  asked  a  ques- 
tion I  had  never  heard  put  to  any  one  before,  and 
have  not  heard  it  since :  Have  you  counted 
the  cost  ?"  he  asked.  Have  you  counted  the 
great  cost  in  this  ?  You  will  lose  your  business ; 
men  will  scoff  at  you,  and  mock  and  laugh  at 
you.  Will  you  stand  all  this  patiently  and  for 
God  ?  Will  you  tell  of  this  night  on  the  com- 
mons and  on  the  street-corners,  in  the  saloons, 
and  wherever  you  have  a  chance  to  do  so?'* 


I30 


TWICE  BORN. 


Again  I  said,  "Yes,"  and  then  shouting, 
"  Glory  to  God!"  Mr.  Suite  sang  a  hymn,  and  I, 
having  become  calm  and  supremely  happy,  list- 
ened with  all  the  ears  I  had.  Then  he  prayed 
with  me  and  for  me  for  a  long  time.  Finally, 
with  a  kind  "  good  night,"  and  a  warning  to  be 
true  to  God,  he  left  me. 

I  soon  fell  asleep,  and  after  sleeping  about 
two  hours  I  got  up,  had  breakfast,  and  went  to 
my  work  of  delivering  goods.  I  came  home 
about  eleven  o'clock  A.  M.,  my  wife  meeting  me 
radiant  and  joyful  at  the  door.  Peace  and  hap- 
piness had  come  to  us  at  last. 

I  wish  to  say,  parenthetically,  at  this  point, 
that  Mr.  Suite  still  lives,  thank  God,  and  is  still 
a  resident  of  Detroit.  To  him,  and  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Detroit,  where  I  have  lived  sixteen 
years,  and  who  knew  the  old  Wills,  and  who 
know  the  new  Wills,  I  refer  any  doubting  per- 
son— and  I  can  not  blame  any  person,  not  yet 
knowing  God  and  his  ways,  for  doubting  my 
story — who  may  wish  to  investigate  my  history. 
Some  people,  not  caring  to  investigate,  may  say: 
"  Bosh  !  Crazy  Wills  !  Imagination  !"  Well, 
for  the  sake  of  argument,  let  us  admit  that  it  is 


O.  WILLS, 


imagination.  Then,  from  that  awful  night  to 
the  present  time,  I  have  imagined  that  I  don't 
want  to  drink  beer  or  liquor ;  my  imagination 
has  kept  from  me  all  desire  to  swear,  lie,  or 
steal ;  imagination  has  driven  all  the  wicked 
lust  out  of  my  eye  and  out  of  my  flesh.  Im- 
agination has  taught  me  to  love  God  with  all 
my  soul  and  mind  and  strength,  and  to  hate  the 
devil  and  all  his  works.  Imagination  prompts 
me  to  praise  God's  holy  name.  This  being  so, 
all  I  can  say  is,  that  it  is  the  most  wonderful  and 
most  blessed  imagination  I  have  yet  heard  about. 
O,  come  and  get  some  of  this  imagination,  quick! 
quick !  before  it  is  too  late !  Turn  unto  the  I^ord, 
and  he  will  receive  you.  He  that  cometh  unto 
me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  (Isa.  i,  i8.) 
Read  the  good  news  ! 

There  you  will  find  out  how  I  was  received, 
and  then  you  will  learn  why  it  was  that  the  sec- 
ond morning  after  my  new  birth  I  was  able  to 
say  to  my  wife :  "I  am  not  an  Indian  giver,  and 
when  I  gave  my  heart  to  Christ  the  other  night 
I  gave  it  all  to  him  and  forever.  In  return,  he 
has  given  me  one  of  flesh  for  the  stony  thing  I 
once  called  a  heart." 


132 


TWICE  BORN. 


HOW  THE  NEWS  WAS  RECEIVED. 

For  nine  years  I  had  been  known  in  Detroit 
as  "a  tough,"  as  wicked  as  the  worst  of  them, 
ready  to  fight  at  the  drop  of  the  hat ;  absolutely 
shameless  in  my  devotion  to  vice  ;  drunk  most 
of  the  time,  and  disgraceful  the  rest  of  the  time. 
In  brief,  I  was  a  faithful  servant  of  the  devil,  doing 
quickly,  and  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  whatever 
he  told  me  to  do.  Consequently,  you  may  be 
sure  no  "  cannon-ball "  train  or  fast-mail  serv- 
ice were  required  to  quickly  spread  the  news  of 
my  conversion  all  over  every  part  of  the  beau- 
tiful City  of  the  Straits, 

Then  I  began  to  catch  it !  Then  I  learned 
the  force  of  Mr.  Suite's  "  Have  you  counted  the 
cost  ?"  There  was  hardly  a  block  on  any  street 
in  the  city  that  I  did  not  hear,  Come,  Wills, 
have  a  drink;"  and,  thank  God,  not  one  of  those 
invitations  from  that  time  to  this  has  received 
from  me  any  other  than  a  negative  answer. 
When  I  would  say  to  my  old  cronies  that  I 
would  not  drink,  that  I  was  through  with  beer 
and  all  liquors,  then  they  began  to  call  me  a 
crank,  a  crazy  bigot,  a  Salvation  Army  lunatic. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


135 


Crank,  crank  !"  was  the  most  frequent  cry,  and 
I  could  only  say:  "Well,  a  crank  is  something 
that  turns  things  around  and  upside  down,  and, 
I  thank  God,  he  has  seen  fit  to  make  of  me  a 
crank  to  do  my  share  toward  upsetting  the  devil 
and  all  that  is  his." 

I  kept  working  for  Jacobson  &  Co. ;  but  even- 
ings and  Sundays,  and  whenever  I  could  get  a 
chance  or  a  hearer — at  saloons,  on  the  street- 
corners,  about  the  Soldiers'  Monument,  in  stores, 
anywhere,  and  at  any  time — I  talked  the  word 
of  God.  My  Soldiers'  Monument  meetings  were 
grand  successes  in  the  cause  of  the  good,  great 
Friend  I  had  found. 

As  an  example  of  the  invariable  courtesy 
with  which  I  have  been  treated  by  the  press 
everywhere,  I  present  the  following  notice  of 
one  of  my  meetings,  which  was  published  by 
the  Free  Press : 

About  six  o'clock  last  evening  a  buggy,  drawn 
by  a  meek  little  bay  horse,  stopped  in  front  of  the 
Soldiers'  Monument.  It  contained  a  thick-set,  mid- 
dle-aged man,  with  a  heavy  mustache,  dark  clothes, 
and  black  Derby  hat.  A  silver  cross  gleamed  on 
the  lapel  of  his  coat.  He  planted  a  short  pole  in 
the  buggy,  and  displayed  a  banner,  with  the  words. 


136 


TWICE  BORN. 


in  big  letters  :  "  Old  Kentuck}-  Bourbon  Whisky." 
Then,  standing  up,  he  began  singing,  in  a  hoarse 
voice,  "  Come  to  Jesus."  There  were  only  two  or 
three  boot-blacks  on  hand  when  he  commenced;  but 
the  streets  were  filled  with  people  going  home  from 
work,  and  in  less  than  five  minutes  a  motlej^  crowd 
of  men  and  boys  surrounded  the  buggy,  and  stared 
at  the  singer,  whose  song  was  strangely  out  of  keep- 
ing with  the  words  painted  on  his  sign. 

"Praise  God  for  the  blood  of  the  Lamb!" 
shouted  the  man  with  the  big  mustache.  "  Praise 
the  Lord  because  he  has  made  it  possible  for  all 
men  to  be  saved  1  The  good  Book  tells  us  that  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  per- 
ish, but  have  eternal  life.  I  w^as  a  great  sinner 
until  I  found  God.  For  fort^-six  years  I  was  a  thief, 
a  liar,  and  a  drunkard.  I  couldn't  say  fifty  words 
without  forty-five  of  'em  being  oaths  and  lies.  But 
at  last  a  great  change  came  over  me.  The  blessed 
spirit  of  God  filled  m}^  heart,  and  I  began  to  lead  a 
new  life.  O,  I  can 't  begin  to  tell  what  a  glad  day 
that  was  when  I  experienced  religion.  The  old 
H.  O.  Wills  died,  and  a  new  man  took  his  place. 
Thank  God,  old  Wills  is  dead!" 

About  this  time  a  beer-wagon  paused  on  the 
edge  of  the  crowd.  It  bore  a  sign  in  big  letters  : 
"  Philip  Best's  Milwaukee  Lager."  The  driver,  a 
ros3--faced  j-oung  German,  named  Otto  Schoefifler, 
had  noticed  Brother  Wills's  placard,  and  stopped  to 
hear  what^he  was  talking  about. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


"  I 've  come  down  here  to  give  you  a  gospel 
temperance  lecture,"  continued  Brother  Wills,  shak- 
ing out  a  placard,  inscribed,  "  Fresh  Cold  Lager." 
Then,  observing  the  beer- wagon,  he  displayed  an- 
other, labeled,  "Rotten  Barley-water,"  and  shouted: 
"  That 's  what  your  cool,  fresh  lager  is — rotten  bar- 
ley water !" 

"  Bet  you  a  hundred  dollars !"  cried  Schoeffler, 

Brother  Wills  paid  no  further  attention  to  the 
beer- wagon,  and  went  on  v/ith  his  harangue.  After 
talking  about  twenty  minutes,  he  gave  way  to  a 
young  man  named  Charles  Ege,  who  climbed  into 
the  buggy,  and  told  the  crowd  what  a  bad  egg  he 
used  to  be  until  he  experienced  religion  a  couple 
of  years  ago.  He  urged  young  men  to  let  liquor 
alone,  and  stop  buying  fine  clothes  and  plug-hats 
for  saloon-keepers. 

Ege  talked  about  ten  minutes,  and  Brother  Wills 
followed,  displaying  more  placards,  such  as  "  $io 
or  90  days  ;"  "  Murder — The  Sentence  of  the  Court 
is  that  You  be  Confined  in  State  Prison ;"  "  Old 
Sour  Mash,"  and  others,  designed  to  illustrate  his 
remarks  on  the  evil  of  intemperance.  At  6.30 
o'clock  the  meeting  closed,  and  Brother  Wills  drove 
away,  after  distributing  a  lot  of  tracts,  headed, 
'  Have  you  Heard  the  Good  News  ?"  He  announced 
that  he  would  hold  gospel  temperance-meetings  at 
the  monument  every  evening  at  six  o'clock  until 
further  notice. 

Mr.  Wills  is  looking  around  for  a  chance  to  start 
a  mission  near  the  market.    It  was  a  noticeable  fact 


138 


TWICE  BORN. 


last  evening  that  nobody  in  the  crowd  tiied  to  guy 
him  or  make  an}^  disturbance.  The  man  is  so  hon- 
est and  sincere,  and  there  is  so  much  homely  truth 
in  what  he  says,  that  his  words  are  Hstened  to  with 
respectful  attention,  even  by  those  who  are  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  cause  he  represents. 

Was  I  ashamed  ?  Ashamed  of  Christ !  Not 
a  bit  of  it.  Was  I  bashful  ?  What,  me  an  old 
fakir?  Not  much.  I  had  talked  to  too  many 
street-crowds,  and,  having  good  lungs,  I  could 
make  myself  heard.  No,  I  gloried  in  my  new 
work,  and  was  getting  on.  The  devil  was  not 
to  be  so  easily  defeated.  Finding  he  could  not 
embarrass  me,  he  did  the  next  thing.  He  tried 
to  break  down  my  temper  O,  how  he  has 
tugged  and  tugged  away  to  make  me  mad ! 
When  I  would  be  selling  goods  in  a  store,  he 
would  send  men  up  to  me  who  would  shove  a 
glass  full  of  beer  under  my  nose,  and  say : 
**Come,  crank,  have  a  drink ;"  and  the  men,  too, 
would  not  have  dared  three  months  earlier  to 
have  looked  crooked  at  me.  I  would  say  to 
these  men :  "  Will  you  please  tell  me  what 
keeps  my  hands  down  by  my  side,  or  why  I 
do  n*t  knock  your  nose  all  over  your  face 


H,  O.  WILLS. 


139 


Then  when  they  would  look  frightened  and 
draw  away,  I  would  add:  "I'll  tell  you  what's 
the  matter.  It  is  because  the  old  Wills  you  used 
to  know  and  get  drunk  with,  is  dead.  It  is  the 
new  Wills  you  are  testing,  and  you  are  putting 
your  tests  against  a  man  who  has  the  same  spirit 
in  him  that  was  in  Christ,  when,  as  he  was  on 
the  cross,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  saying :  '  Father, 
forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  " 

On  the  other  hand,  my  new  life  was  not  all 
a  fight  against  the  devil,  for  God  sent  me  a  few 
good  friends  who  would  come  to  my  home  to 
pray  with  me,  to  teach  me,  and  to  read  God's 
iioly  Word  to  me.  One  of  those  friends,  one 
who  trusted  me  and  believed  in  me,  is  now  with 
her  God  in  heaven.  Alas !  I  did  not  know  Mrs. 
Orrilla  Hawley  and  her  whole  worth  until  after 
she  was  gone.  She  was  a  noble  Christian  woman, 
whose  silver  hair  and  serene  face  were  a  bene- 
diction upon  all  who  met  her.  Another  equally 
kind  supporter  and  friend  was  the  good  Mrs. 
S.  B.  McNeil,  late  a  missionary  in  Kgypt.  God 
bless  both  of  these  noble  women! 

Then  there  was  the  Jefferson  Avenue  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  congregation,  and  their 


140 


TWICE  BORN. 


pastor,  Wm.  Dawe,  who  were  very  kind  to  me. 
Many  a  time  after  my  first  relation  of  my  "  ex- 
perience " — as  alluded  to  in  Rev.  Mr.  Dawe's 
introduction  to  this  volume — have  I  listened  to 
that  pastor's  lessons,  crying  all  through  the  ser- 
mons. My !  what  food  it  was  to  my  hungry, 
broken  spirit ! 

Finally,  Mrs.  McNeil  came  to  me  one  day, 
and  asked  how  I  would  like  to  talk  to  three 
thousand  people  at  once.  I  said  I  would  like  it 
immensely,  and  she  said  :  ^'  Come  with  me  on 
Franklin  Street,  and  talk  to  the  poor  people  there, 
who  not  only  knew  the  old  Wills,  but  who  will 
listen  to  and  be  benefited  by  the  new  Wills. 
There's  your  start.  Begin  at  the  foot  of  the 
ladder,  and  some  day  you  will  reach  the  top,  if 
you  keep  low.  Then,  some  day,  you  will  be 
able  to  talk  to  three  thousand,  yes,  ten  thousand 
people.  Do  n't  begin  at  the  top ;  for  starting 
there,  there  is  but  one  way  to  go,  unless  you 
jump  clear  of  the  ladder." 

I  accordingly  took  her  advice,  and  talked  to 
the  people  on  Franklin  Street,  and  in  about  the 
"  Potomac  "  quarters.  I  began  at  the  foot  of  the 
ladder  ;  and  I  am  there  yet,  thank  God.  More 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


141 


than  that,  I  hope  to  stay  there  until  God,  the 
good  Master,  shall  say,  "  Come  up  higher." 

HOW  TO  I.OSK  ONE'S  BUSINESS. 

Up  to  the  time  I  began  taking  Sister  McNeil's 
advice,  the  idea  of  becoming  a  temperance-talker 
had  not  entered  my  head,  and  of  course  I  had 
never,  publicly,  said  much  about  temperance. 

Hence,  although  I  had  become  quite  well 
known  in  the  city  as  a  "religious  crank,"  I  had 
thus  far  been  able  to  hold  the  whole  of  my  trade 
as  a  salesman.  The  time  was  at  hand,  how- 
ever, when  I  was  to  be  put  through  the  fire  for 
a  test.  God  only  wants  workers  who  are  tried 
and  true.  He  has  no  place  for  cowards  in  his 
army. 

I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  evangelist 
named  Murrell,  who  was  conducting  a  series  of 
revival  meetings  near  the  city  limits,  and  who 
had  invited  me  to  visit  him.  So,  one  day,  not 
being  especially  busy,  I  drove  over  to  his  house. 
Mind  you,  up  to  this  time  I  had  never,  at  any 
of  my  meetings,  spoken  a  word  about  temper- 
ance. I  was  at  his  house  most  of  the  forenoon, 
during  which  time  he  played  and  sang  for  me, 


142 


TWICE  BORN. 


and  just  before  dinner  I  was  looking  around  the 
room  at  the  pictures  on  the  walls.  Presently 
my  attention  was  fastened  on  one  picture  show- 
ing a  white  cross,  and  just  above  it  were  the 
words,  "  He  died  for  me."  Mr.  Murrell  re- 
marked that  that  picture  had  been  presented  to 
him  when  he  was  a  lad,  that  he  prized  it  highly, 
and  would  almost  part  with  anything  else  rather 
than  that.  Then  dinner  came,  after  which  I 
went  home.  Three  days  after  that,  while  hold- 
ing family  service  at  my  home,  the  Spirit  of  God 
told  me  to  start  a  temperance  organization,  and 
take  the  white  cross  with  its  motto,  "  He  died 
for  me,"  as  the  design  for  the  badge  of  the  or- 
ganization. When  God  tells  me  to  do  anything, 
I  do  it  as  soon  as  I  can,  and  I  did  as  he  directed. 
I  began  at  once  the  organization  of  the  White 
Cross  Temperance  Society.  At  first  I  used  little 
badges  made  of  cloth,  but  soon  we  had  grown 
so  in  members  and  resources  that  we  were  able 
to  have  badges  made  of  white  metal.  Soon  the 
nature  of  my  new  work  became  generally  known 
throughout  the  city,  and  almost  as  soon  I  was 
out  of  business,  commercially  speaking. 

You  see  all  of  my  customers  sold  liquor,  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


143 


I  was  a  confessed  public  organizer  and  worker 
against  that  branch  of  their  business.  My  cus- 
tomers dropped  me  like  a  hot  potato.  Friends, 
some  of  them  Christians  too,  advised  me  to  let 
the  temperance  question  alone,  and  talk  nothing 
but  religion ;  but  God  had  told  me  to  do  this, 
and  he  had  my  promise.  I  could  not  and  I  did 
not  want  to  break  it.  I  knew  that  if  I  could 
not  sell  goods  any  longer,  I  could  and  would 
dig  in  the  streets  if  necessary  to  get  a  living. 
I  had  started  to  serve  God  with  my  whole  soul, 
and,  with  his  help,  I  would  never  "  gig  "  back  on 
my  word. 

For  fifteen  months  after  this  I  worked  at 
whatever  I  could  get  to  do  that  was  honorable, 
even  though  it  was  humble,  and  so  took  care  o'f 
myself.  Meanwhile  the  White  Cross  Society 
grew,  until  thousands  of  the  little  badges,  worn 
on  the  outside  of  the  coat — not  on  the  vest  or 
under  the  lapel  of  the  coat — testified  to  the  power 
of  God  in  rescuing  lost  souls  from  the  fiendish 
grip  of  the  devil's  adjutants,  the  saloon  and 
liquor-men.  Finally  a  grand  lodge  of  the  White 
Cross  was  organized ;  and  so  we  grew,  and  praised 
God  that  many  of  the  hardest  of  hardened  sin- 


144 


TWICE  BORN. 


ners  were  turned  to  God  by  our  efforts.  Clubs 
existed  all  over  the  city  and  country  ;  many  clubs 
were  organized  throughout  the  State,  and  the 
work  had  an  overflow,  until  many  clubs  existed 
in  Canada.  The  work  was  now  seen  to  be 
plainly  the  work  of  God.  The  clergy  stood  by 
me  most  nobly ;  the  ground  was  broken,  and 
the  seed,  which  is  the  Word,  was  sown.  Since 
that  time,  and  even  now  (and  I  pray  God  it  may 
continue  for  a  long  time  to  come),  good,  glorious 
fruits  are  the  result.  As  one  of  many,  many 
illustrations  of  this  work  and  its  results,  I  pre- 
sent the  following : 

ALMOST  LOST. 

"  Is  not  this  a  brand  plucked  from  the  fire  [Zech.  m,  2^ 
CHARI.KS  Getty,  the  subject  of  the  following 
sketch,  died  in  the  village  of  Leamington,  County 
of  Essex,  Canada,  on  Sabbath,  the  28th  of  March, 
1886,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two  years.  Born 
and  brought  up  in  ordinary  circumstances,  his  life 
was  spent  in  the  occupations  common  to  the  lot  of 
the  farmer  or  working-man.  About  seven  j^ears 
ago  he  settled  a  little  to  the  west  of  the  village,  on 
a  farm  adjoining  that  of  Mr.  Theodore  Quick.  Hav- 
ing been  addicted  to  the  excessive  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  and  profane  language,  Mrs.  Quick  felt 
impelled  to  talk  to  him  about  his  manner  of  life,  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


reprove  him  for  his  conduct ;  but  with  no  good 
effect.  She  often  spoke  to  him  about  his  soul, 
heaven,  hell,  and  eternity.  He  listened  respectfully, 
but  would  not  carry  on  any  conversation.  To  her 
only  would  he  listen.  All  others  attempting  to  speak 
to  him  were  at  once  and  decisively  repelled.  He 
would  say  :  I  do  n't  believe  in  Christianity  ;  I  do  n't 
bother  myself  about  hell."  He  avowed  himself  to 
be  an  atheist,  and  was  regarded  one  of  the  most 
hardened  unbelievers  in  the  village  and  vicinity. 
His  wife  was  brought  under  serious  conviction  dur- 
ing a  revival  meeting  held  some  time  ago  in  the 
village.  Rev.  Mr.  Harris  called  one  day  to  see  and 
converse  with  her.  Mr.  Getty  was  present,  but  would 
allow  no  conversation  on  divine  subjects  with  him- 
self. During  prayer,  which  was  permitted  to  be 
offered,  he  remained  sitting,  and  sneered  at  the  peti- 
tions offered  up. 

Some  time  ago  consumption  laid  its  hand  upon 
him,  and  brought  him  low.  Mr.  Harris  visited  him 
in  his  sickness,  and  upon  his  entrance  to  the  sick- 
room said :  "I  have  come  to  see  you."  "  O !"  was 
the  reply.  "I  do  n't  wish  to  hear  anything  about 
religion  ;  I  am  perfectly  satisfied."  He  persisted  in 
saying  that  man  is  no  better  than  the  lower  animals, 
and  perishes  like  them.  "  Do  you  wish  to  die  like 
a  beast?"  "I  do,"  was  the  reply.  "I  want  to  be 
left  to  myself.  I  have  no  preparation  to  make." 
No  prayer  was  offered  up  on  this  occasion.  On  a 
subsequent  visit,  the  same  gentleman  was  greeted 
with  the  words,  "  Are  you  come  to  palaver  again 
13 


146 


TWICE  BORN. 


about  religion?"  To  his  own  friends  he  often  said 
he  hated  to  hear  anything  said  about  rehgion. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Burtch  also  visited  him.  He  was 
kindly  received  ;  but  Mr.  Getty  would  not  allow  him 
to  read  the  Bible  or  pray,  notwithstanding  the  ear- 
nest entreaties  of  ^his  wife  to  allow  him  to  do  so 
God,  who 

"  Moves  in  a  mysterious  way, 
His  wonders  to  perform," 

had  his  agents  secretly  at  work  to  break  this  hard- 
ened man.  To  all  appearance,  man's  words  of  warn- 
ing and  advice  were  as  the  gentle  ripples  touching  the 
foot  of  the  rock-bound  coast,  leaving  no  trace  of 
their  touch  on  the  towering  cliff.  Some  Christian 
friends  who,  unknown  to  each  other,  had  become 
secretly  drawn  to  this  man,  bore  him  on  the  arms  of 
their  faith  to  their  Savior.  Their  prayers  had  for  some 
time  been  wafted  on  high  for  the  conversion  of  this 
enemy  of  God  and  his  truth.  As  his  life  kept  ebb- 
ing away,  their  hopes  became  fewer ;  but  their 
faith  did  not  falter.  The  impression  was  made  on 
their  minds  that  he  would  yet  become  a  trophy  of 
the  redeeming  grace  of  God.  Mr.  H.  O.  Wills,  of 
the  McAuley  Mission,  Detroit,  was  in  lycamington 
addressing  meetings.  On  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday, 
the  1 6th  of  March,  after  his  address  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  he  and  the  village  minister  agreed 
to  offer  up,  separately,  secret  prayers  for  Mr.  Getty 
and  others.  On  Friday  evening  Mr.  Wills  called 
at  the  house  of  the  dying  man.  Mr.  Wills  told  of 
his  own  conversion,  and  then  asked  to  be  allowed 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


147 


to  pray.  The  request  was  refused,  whereupon  Mr. 
Wills  said  he  would  pray  elsewhere  that  God  would 
deal  savingly  with  him.  As  the  invalid  was  apparently 
sinking  fast  Mrs.  Quick  felt  impelled,  in  her  spirit,  to 
speak  once  more  to  him  of  his  state.  On  the  Satur- 
day forenoon  (the  20th)  she  warned  him,  that  should 
he  die  as  he  then  was,  he  would  be  lost  forever ; 
and  that  if  he  were  lost,  her  words  would  ring  in  his 
ears  through  all  eternity.  He  then  showed  the  first 
signs  of  interest  in  his  spiritual  state;  arid  asked 
some  of  his  neighbors,  who  had  called,  if  they  be- 
lieved in  the  existence  of  a  God,  a  heaven,  and  a 
hell.  Shortly  before  dinner-time,  Mr.  Fuller,  banker, 
called  on  business.  When  the  business  was  trans- 
acted, Mr.  Fuller  spoke  seriously  to  him  ;  told  him 
of  his  position  before  God,  and  pressed  on  him  the 
necessity  of  fleeing  from  the  wrath  to  come.  By 
way  of  an  apology  Mr.  Getty  replied  :  "  I  never 
wronged  or  cheated  anybody ;  I  do  n't  see  that  there 
is  anything  wrong  with  me."  Though  admitting 
that  he  was  a  sinner,  he  pleaded  that  he  was  no 
worse  than  many  others.  Mr.  Fuller  told  him  of 
our  relation  to  Adam ;  then  related  the  account  of 
the  fall,  and  Adam's  hiding  himself  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord.  He  also  explained  the  nature  of 
sacrifice,  and  that  the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ  is 
the  only  ground  of  the  sinner's  hope  before  God ; 
for  without  the  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  re- 
mission "  of  sin  ;  and  also,  that  to  be  received  into 
God's  favor  and  friendship,  we  need  to  be  clothed 
with  the  robe  of  Christ's  righteousness. 


148' 


TWICE  BORN. 


In  the  afternoon,  about  three  o'clock,  he  called 
his  wife  to  his  bedside,  and  said  that  he  was  about 
to  die  and  go  to  hell.  He  bade  those  around  good- 
bye ;  then,  stretching  himself  out,  appeared  to  be 
dead.  In  this  state  he  continued  but  a  few  minutes. 
When  he  regained  consciousness,  he  cried  at  the  top 
of  his  voice  that  he  was  lost.  *'  O,  I  am  going  to 
hell !  I  am  going  to  hell !  there  is  a  God,  there  is 
a  God  !  I  am  going  to  hell,  and  will  burn  forever 
in  the  fire,  and  forever  cry  out,  O  God,  O  God !" 
For  some  time  this  was  the  burden  of  his  cry,  which 
was  mingled  with  the  prayers,  "  O  save  my  soul !  O 
pray  that  God  would  save  my  soul !"  His  piercing 
cries  were  heard  rods  away.  Then  he  called  on  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Quick  to  come  and  pray  for  him ;  and 
afterwards  cried  :  "  Send  for  all  the  preachers  and 
praying  people  in  I^eamington  to  come  and  pray 
for  me."  Some  in  the  room  were  alarmed,  and  left. 
Friends  gathered  around  his  bedside,  and  pointed 
him  to  the  Savior.  To  them  he  related  a  vision  he 
had  seen.  He  thought  he  was  dead,  and  that  he 
went  to  heaven.  The  I^ord  standing  at  the  gate 
stopped  him,  and  said  he  could  not  enter,  but  bade 
him  go  down  to  hell.  Having  gone,  he  there  saw 
the  agonies  and  heard  the  blasphemies  of  the 
damned,  and  himself  was  made  to  feel  something 
of,  as  he  said,  the  bitter  pains  of  hell."  Having 
returned  to  heaven,  he  was  told  that  he  must  go  to 
earth  and  repent  of  his  sins  before  he  could  enter. 
He  was  to  tell  his  companions  that  there  is  a 
God,  a  heaven,  and  a  hell,  and  that  they  must 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


149 


repent  of  their  sins,  and  pray  to  the  lyord  for  par- 
don, else  they  would  perish  forever.  Revs.  Messrs. 
Miers,  Burtch,  and  Scott  were  soon  at  his  bedside. 
As  they  were  administering  comfort  his  cry  was : 
"  There  is  a  God,  there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell ;  I 
am  lost,  I  am  going  to  hell;  O  Jesus,  save  my 
soul !  Pray  that  God  would  save  me."  He  even 
belched  out  profane  and  blasphemous  language, 
that  can  not  be  written,  and  said  :  "  That  is  the  way 
they  speak  in  hell." 

When  directed  to  go  to  the  Savior  for  pardon, 
his  cry  was  :  "  It  is  too  late ;  I  have  sinned  away  the 
day  of  grace."  Messrs  Miers  and  Scott,  who  re- 
mained, said  :  No ;  God  has  not  left  you,  but  has 
aroused  you  to  feel  yourself  to  be  a  sinner;  and 
God  says  he  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all 
who  come  to  him  through  Christ  Jesus,  his  Son." 
Friends  filled  the  room,  and  in  wonder,  amazement, 
and  pity,  saw  him  in  his  soul  agony,  and  heard  his 
piteous  words.  He  complained  of  a  burden  that  was 
bound  on  his  soul,  and  that  the  devil,  by  means  of 
it,  was  crushing  him  down  to  hell.  That  burden 
he  acknowledged  to  be  his  sins. 

About  seven  o'clock  Mr.  Getty  sent  for  Messrs. 
Harris  and  Burtch,  and  asked  their  forgiveness  for 
the  way  he  treated  them.  His  soul  was  still  tossed 
about.  Mr.  Harris  asked :  "Is  it  the  fear  of  hell — 
of  being  lost — that  makes  you  feel  this  way,  or  is  it 
sorrow  for  your  sins  ?"  His  reply  was  most  satis- 
factory :  It  is  sorrow  for  my  sins  against  God, 
who  has  loved  me  so  much."    Among  passages  read 


TWICE  BORN. 


and  quoted  to  him  were;  "Ho,  every  one  that 
thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,"  etc.  (Isa.  Iv,  i.) 
"  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life 
freely."  (Rev.  xxii,  17.)  "Behold,  I  stand  at  the 
door  and  knock;  if  any  man  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  into  him,  and  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me." 
(Rev.  iii,  20.)  "  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  fafthful 
and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us 
from  all  unrighteousness."  (i  John  i,  9.)  Comfort 
was  sought  to  be  given  to  him  from  the  sympathy 
and  work  of  the  Redeemer.  "  A  bruised  reed  shall 
he  not  break,  and  the  smoking  flax  shall  he  not 
quench;  he  shall  bring  forth  judgment  unto  truth." 
(Isa.  xlii,  3.) 

After  these  ministers  left,  Mr.  Scott  called  again, 
and  found  him  still  troubled.  "Are  you  wishing  to 
be  saved?"  asked  Mr.  Scott.  "  Yes !"  "  Do  you  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  is  willing  to  save  you?"  "Yes!" 
"  Then  repeat  this  prayer :  *  O  Lord  Jesus,  save  my 
soul ;  cleanse  it  from  all  sin,  for  thy  name's  sake. 
Amen.'  "  He  repeated  these  words  with  all  the  ear- 
nestness of  a  dying  man.  As  Mr.  Scott  required  to 
leave  for  a  short  time,  and  Mr.  Getty  was  anxious 
to  have  a  minister  constantly  beside  him,  Mr.  Miers 
was  sent  for,  came,  and  conversed  with  him.  When 
both  were  again  at  his  bedside,  Mr.  Getty  said  that 
he  died  at  three  o'clock  that  afternoon,  but  that  God 
gave  him  life  and  repentance;  that  God  was  teach- 
ing him  to  pray,  and  not  he  was  speaking,  but  God 
in  him.  Fears  still  clouded  his  soul.  He  was  asked 
if  he  could  give  himself  to  the  Savior,  and  trust 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


himself  in  the  hands  of  Jesus.  "  Yes  !"  he  repHed  ; 
"I  give  my  sins,  my  body,  my  soul,  my  spirit,  my  all 
to  Jesus."  Still  the  tempter  made  him  think  that 
he  was  lost.  He  complained  of  the  devil's  power 
over  him.  Mr.  Scott  then  read  Heb.  ii,  14,  15  : 
"  Forasmuch  then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of 
flesh  and  blood,  he  also  [Jesus]  himself  likewise 
took  part  of  the  same ;  that  through  death  he  might 
destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is, 
the  devil,  and  deliver  them  who,  through  fear  of 
death,  were  all  their  life-time  subject  to  bondage." 
In  explaining  these  words,  he  pointed  him  to  the 
fact  that  Jesus  lived  and  died,  not  only  to  save  his 
people  from  their  sins  and  eternal  misery,  but  to 
conquer  Satan,  and  deliver  the  oppressed  from  his 
power.  Seeing  Mr.  Getty's  mind  was  not  now  so 
much  troubled  about  God's  willingness  to  save,  as 
about  his  own  lack  of  knowledge  or  feeling  that  he 
was  saved,  he  directed  him  to  Phil,  i,  6 :  "  He  that 
hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you,  will  perform  it  until 
the  day  of  Jesus  Christ."  Also  to  John  vi,  44,  37  : 
*'No  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father,  which 
hath  sent  me,  draw  him."  "All  that  the  Father 
giveth  me  shall  come  to  me ;  and  him  that  cometh 
to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  He  showed  that, 
as  God  had,  as  Mr.  Getty  admitted,  begun  the  good 
work  of  salvation  in  him,  so  God  would  finish  it. 
That  as  he  had  gone  to  Jesus  for  salvation,  it  was 
because  God  the  Father  drew  him  to  Jesus,,  or  God 
the  Son ;  that  as  the  Father  had  drawn  him  to  the 
Son,  and  had  given  him  life  and  repentance,  so  he 


TWICE  BORN, 


was  God's  child,  and  that  no  one,  not  even  the  devil, 
would  pluck  him  out  of  God's  hand.  (John  x, 
28,  29.)  "What  you  need,"  Mr.  Scott  added,  "  is  pa- 
tience, till  God  shall  finish  the  good  work  he  has 
begun.  He  will  yet  give  you  light;  he  will  take 
away  this  burden,  and  fill  your  heart  with  peace  in 
believing."  Mr.  Miers  directed  him  to  cast  his  bur- 
den on  the  Lord,  to  cling  to  Jesus,  who  says:  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  who  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest."  "Rest  for  me?"  "Yes;  rest 
for  you !"  As  it  was  getting  late,  and  he  seeming 
inclined  to  sleep,  most  of  the  visitors  left. 

About  midnight  his  mind  was  again  much 
troubled;  but  after  a  short  sleep  he  awoke  about 
two  o'clock,  and  exclaimed:  "Praise  the  Lord,  my 
burden  is  gone."  He  asked  for  a  Bible.  It  was 
opened  at  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John.  Having 
read  that  and  following  chapters,  he  exclaimed: 
**0  how  sweet !  it  is  God's  word."  Mr.  Scott,  who 
had  gone  early  to  see  him,  on  hearing  his  story  of 
deliverance,  asked  if  he  had  any  message  to  his 
former  companions.  "  Yes,"  he  replied ;  "  tell  them 
there  is  a  God,  and  I  know  it ;  tell  them  there  is  a 
heaven  and  a  hell.  Tell  them  I  am  a  converted 
man ;  that  my  soul  is  saved ;  that  unless  they  re- 
pent, and  pray  to  Jesus  for  the  forgiveness  of  their 
sins,  they  will  go  to  hell,  and  perish  forever."  Dur- 
ing the  week  the  ministers  frequently  visited  him, 
and  friends  from  all  parts  came  to  see  this  miracle 
of  saving  grace.  The  clouds  of  Charles  Getty's 
sins,  and  the  thick  clouds  of  his  trangressions,  he 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


153 


now  felt  to  be  rolled  away.  Light  shone  into  his 
soul ;  his  body  made  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Charlie,"  said  Mr.  Fuller,  during  a  visit  in  this 
calm,  which  continued  till  death  came,  "have  you 
not  all  your  life  been  trying  to  get  away  from  God?" 
"  Yes  !"  he  replied ;  and  again  said:  "  The  Lord  hath 
saved  me ;  there  is  no  use  in  resisting ;  the  Lord 
hath  showed  it  unto  me."  His  mind  was  perfectl}'- 
clear  when  relating  what  the  Lord  did  for  him. 
Next  day  he  transacted  some  business  with  business 
men,  to  their  full  satisfaction.  During  the  week 
his  bodily  strength  gradually  failed  him.  On  the 
Saturday,  when  in  delirium,  his  words  were  :  "Lord, 
Lord  !  light!  light !"  He  died  next  morning  at  nine 
o'clock. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Getty  was  brought  to  realize 
that  he  was  a  lost  sinner,  his  first  cry  was  to  God 
for  mercy,  through  Jesus  Christ.  He  did  not  urge 
the  plea  of  personal  righteousness,  nor  that  he  was 
as  good  as  his  neighbors.  Even  in  his  agony  he 
showed  that  the  Holy  Spirit  taught  him  the  true 
nature  of  sin,  as  against  God,  and  led  him  to  Christ 
only  for  pardon.  He  laid  hold  of  the  rope  of  sav- 
ing faith  the  Spirit  threw  out  to  him,  as  he  was 
struggling  in  the  waters  of  conviction  ;  and  by  God's 
help,  he  held  on  till  he  was  landed  on  the  shores  of 
"peace  in  believing,"  where  he  experienced  "the 
joys  of  salvation." 

The  change  was  not  in  the  heart  only,  but  in 
the  conduct  of  Mr.  Getty.  As  soon  as  the  Spirit 
of  God  took  away  the  stony  heart,  Mr.  Getty  asked 


154 


TWICE  BORN. 


the  forgiveness  of  those  he  had  formerly  repulsed, 
and  sent  a  message  to  Mr.  Wills  to  the  same  effect. 

In  his  hardened  state  he  would  not  allow  a  Sab- 
bath-school paper  or  a  religious  tract  to  be  in  his 
house.  He  had  no  Bible,  and  confessed  he  never 
read  it.  Now  he  would  have  the  Bible  beside  him, 
and  either  read  it  himself,  or  get  others  to  read  it 
to  him.  It  opened  up  a  new  world  to  this,  a  new 
creature.  He  desired  more  light  from  the  Scripture, 
and  frequently  expressed  great  surprise  at  the  infor- 
mation given  in  the  Word  of  God.  He  regretted 
he  had  not  lived  a  better  life,  and  said  that  had  he 
been  a  changed  man  before,  his  home  would  have 
been  a  happier  one.  He  requested  his  wife  to  bring 
up  their  children  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and 
pleaded  with  unconverted  relations  to  give  them- 
selves to  Jesus,  to  live  good  lives,  join  the  Church, 
and  earnestl}^  prayed  for  their  salvation. 

Reader,  what  is  your  state  before  God  at  this 
moment?  Accepting  Christ  as  your  Savior,  or  re- 
jecting him?  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  [of 
God]  hath  everlasting  life ;  and  he  that  believeth 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  him."  (John  iii,  36.)  "I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  that  all 
should  come  unto  me  and  live."  (Ezek.  xxxiii,  11.) 
Jesus  saith  :  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out."    (John  vi,  37.) 

Unconverted  brother,  do  not  think  that  some 
such  striking  event  will  happen  to  you.  "  The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  etc.    (John  iii,  8.) 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


155 


But  it  does  not  always  blow  with  the  force  of  a  hur- 
ricane. To  you  the  Spirit  of  God  says:  "  Behold, 
now  is  the  accepted  time  ;  behold,  now  is  the  day 
of  salvation."    (2  Cor.  vi,  2.) 

Utter  indifference  to  death  is  no  preparation  for 
future  existence.  One  may  not  fear  to  die,  yet  be 
a  lost  soul.  After  death  comes  the  judgment.  Are 
you  prepared  for  this  ?  If  you,  brother,  neglect  this 
salvation — the  only  salvation  in  existence — which 
God  has  provided  for  you,  how  can  you  escape  the 
furious  storms  of  divine  wrath,  or  free  your  soul 
from  the  guilt  and  curse  of  sin  ?  (Read  Prov.  i,  20, 
to  end.) 

"It  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  ac- 
ceptation, that  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners."  (i  Tim.  i,  15.)  If  we  confess  our 
sins  to  God,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness." 
(i  John  i,  9.)  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved."    (Acts  xvi,  31.) 

J.  B.  SCOTT. 

IvEAMINGTON,  May  3,  1886. 

WILLS  AT  THE  McAULEY  MISSION. 

In  November,  1884,  Mr.  Wills  opened  an  un- 
denominational Christian  church-building,  which 
lie  named  the  McAuley  Mission.  On  the  night 
of  the  dedication  services,  Rev.  Dr.  Duffield,  Rev. 
Louis  R.  Fox,  Rev.  Wm.  Dawe,  Rev.  C.  R.  Hen- 
derson, Rev.  Dr.  Smith,  Charles  Buncher,  and  a 


156 


TWICE  BORN. 


large  audience  participated.  The  enterprise  was 
kept  open  until  April,  1886,  when  it  was  closed. 
As  a  sample  of  Mr.  Wills 's  earlier  style  of  work, 
the  following  report  by  the  Free  Press  is  re- 
produced : 

"  For  the  benefit  of  those,  both  young  and  old, 
who  have  come  in  here  to-night  for  the  first  time, 
and  may  never  come  again,  I  want  to  say  that  this 
is  the  McAuley  Mission,  and  that  you  '11  have  to 
keep  quiet.  When  there 's  any  talkin'  to  be  done, 
we  '11  do  it  from  up  here  ;  but  when  we  're  singin' 
you  kin  all  join  in." 

These  words  were  last  night  addressed  to  the 
three  hundred  or  more  people  who  had  assembled 
in  the  McAuley  Mission,  corner  of  St.  Aubin  Ave- 
nue and  Sherman  Street,  by  Henry  O.  Wills,  one 
of  the  gentlemen  who  has  undertaken  the  arduous 
and  thankless  task  of  expounding  the  Gospel  to 
those  in  that  locality  who  have  no  church  home  to 
go  to,  and,  even  if  they  had,  would  not  probably  be 
in  attendance  oftener  than  once  a  month. 

The  persons  for  whom  the  language  was  espe- 
cially intended  did  not  seem  to  comprehend  the 
force  of  Mr.  Wills's  argument,  judging  from  the 
loud  conversation  which  was  kept  up,  and  he  directed 
one  of  his  lieutenants  to  put  any  one  out  who  acted 
in  an  unruly  manner,  which  had  the  desired  effect. 

Several  hymns  were  sung  in  succession,  after 
which  Mr.  Wills  announced  that  the  next  one  he 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


157 


would  give  out  would  be  the  last  before  the  meet- 
ing was  formally  opened.  The  first  stanza  had  not 
been  concluded  when  a  terrific  crash  was  heard,  and 
the  frightened  audience  made  a  break  for  the  door. 
Mr.  Wills  took  in  the  situation  in  an  instant,  and, 
jumping  to  his  feet,  told  them  to  keep  their  seats  ; 
that  nothing  more  serious  had  occurred  than  the 
toppling  over  of  a  rickety  chimney.  The  incident, 
however,  afforded  him  a  good  opportunity  to  lecture 
his  frightened  hearers,  which  he  did  by  telling  them 
that  if  the  mere  falling  of  a  chimney  would  frighten 
them,  and  if  they  were  unprepared  for  it,  how  much 
more  unfitted  and  frightened  to  meet  their  God  would 
they  be  when  the  last  great  crash  came!  He  said: 
"  When  the  last  great  earthquake  comes — and  we 
can't  get  away  from  that,  boys — you  won't  have  an}' 
chance  to  run  out  of  the  mission  then.  You  want 
to  be  ready  to  say  to  the  Master,  '  I  'ni  ready,'  and 
up  3^ou  '11  go  with  him.  We  will  now  finish  the 
singing  of  this  hymn,  and  when  we  are  through. 
Rev.  George  Dufiield  will  take  charge  of  the 
meeting." 

The  hymn  being  concluded,  Rev.  Mr.  Dufiield 
made  a  prayer,  following  with  a  short  sermon  to  the 
children,  in  which  he  illustrated  the  benefit  to  be 
derived  from  following  in  the  footsteps  of  Him  who 
said:  "Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and 
forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdon  of 
heaven."  He  also  told  the  little  ones  of  the  terrible 
fate  which  befell  the  children  who  wickedly  mocked 
and  scoffed  at  Elisha,  and  admonished  them  so  to 


TWICE  BORN. 


live  that  when  they  reached  the  age  of  maturity, 
they  would  look  back  with  pleasure  to  the  days 
when  the  saving  truths  were  explained  to  them  from 
the  pulpit  of  the  McAuley  Mission.  He  then  di- 
rected his  remarks  to  the  older  portion  of  the  audi- 
ence, and  said  that  no  heart  was  so  black  but  that 
God  could  and  would  cleanse  it.  People  seemed 
afraid  to  fall  at  the  feet  of  God,  who  had  given  his 
only  Son  to  be  crucified  that  the  sins  of  all  might 
be  atoned  for.  Christ  died  for  all,  individually  and 
collectively,  and  every  one  who  would  give  his  heart 
to  him  and  take  up  the  cross  would  be  saved. 

Mr.  Wills  brought  the  meeting  to  a  close  with  a 
few  short  remarks,  in  which  he  detailed  the  manner 
of  his  own  conversion. 

THE  CASINO  TABERNACI.E. 
Of  the  last  very  important  work  done  in  the 
city  of  Detroit  by  Mr.  Wills  but  little  need  be 
said;  for  at  this  writing  (June,  1890,)  the  work 
itself  still  remains,  a  monument  to  his  earnest- 
ness and  efficiency  as  a  worker  in  the  field  of 
religious  labor.  The  work  in  question  is  best 
known  as  the  Casino  Tabernacle  of  Detroit. 

The  Casino  "  was  the  name  of  a  low  variety 
theater  in  the  very  business  center  of  the  city, 
and  directly  across  a  narrow  street  from  the 
city's  high-school.    It  was  a  stench  in  the  air, 


//  O.  WILLS. 


159 


an  excrescence  on  the  beautiful  face  of  a  lovely 
city.  Mr.  Wills,  by  his  own  energy,  raised  a 
sum  sufficient  to  influence  the  lessee  of  the 
Casino  Theater  to  agree  to  transfer  the  lease  to 
Mr.  Wills,  could  he  raise  a  sum  large  enough 
to  pay  a  good  rent.  The  situation  was  laid  be- 
fore W.  H.  Brearly,  of  the  Detroit  Evening  Jour- 
nal^ and  the  result  was  that  about  the  first  of 
May,  1889,  the  Casino  Variety  Theater  ceased 
to  exist,  and  the  Casino  Tabernacle  opened  for 
business,  with  H.  O.  Wills  as  the  evangelist  in 
charge.  To-day  the  Casino  Tabernacle  has 
business  men's  prayer-meetings  each  noonday ; 
each  evening  religious  meetings  are  held  ;  and 
on  Sundays  large  congregations  (undenomina- 
tional) are  present,  mornings  and  evenings ;  and 
a  Sunday-school,  having  several  hundred  pupils, 
is  conducted  there. 

AN  EXAMPI^E  OF  WILLS'S  STYLE. 
The  Detroit  Evening  Journal^  preserving  the 
spontaneous  enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Wills  in  excel- 
lent style,  published  the  following : 

"G1.0RY  TO  God  !"  It  was  Brother  H.  O.  Wills. 
Who  else  could  it  be,  with  those  lungs  and  that 


i6o 


TWICE  BORN. 


salutation?  Detroit's  Sam  Jones  "has  been  to  Sara- 
toga. Ever}'  time  sin  showed  its  head  he  mauled 
it.  The  work  kept  him  pretty  busy.  Yesterday 
morning  he  dropped  into  the  Journal  office  to  tell 
about  his  trip  : 

O  dear  !  what  meetings  I  had  I  Such  a  crowd  ! 
We  had  to  ]jold  up  the  sides  of  the  tent  so  that  the 
crowd  outside  could  hear.  I  fought  against  sin,  and 
I  fought  against  the  people  living  away  from  home. 
One  man  said  there  was  no  harm — did  n't  God  say, 
'Go  and  take  a  rest  awhile?'  'O  dear,  no!'  I  an- 
swered ;  '  Jesus  Christ  did  n't  go  to  a  place  like  Sar- 
atoga, but  into  the  desert,  to  rest;  and. when  the 
people  saw  him  coming,  they  took  a  short  cut  across 
lots,  and  Christ  took  compassion  on  them.  Christ 
was  in  the  desert,  and  the  people  got  hungry'  and 
he  fed  them  ;  and  it  gave  the  disciples  more  work 
than  ever,  and  the}'  got  no  rest  at  all.' 

"  Both  those  in  charge  of  the  tent  and  the  minis- 
ters told  me  I  spoke  too  loud.  They  said  it  was  an 
outrage  to  let  that  man  talk.  The  language  that  he 
uses  and  the  slang  that  he  uses  is  an  outrage.  I 
said :  '  Let  me  alone.  I  know  how  to  fish.  I  am 
fishing  for  eels  and  bull-heads,  and  they  lie  in  the 
bottom,  and  I  have  got  to  use  live  bait.'  That  put 
me  in  mind  of  the  boy  who,  when  he  was  asked 
what  he  had  got  in  his  mouth,  said  :  '  I  have  got 
wo'ms  for  bait.'  He  caught  fish.  I  had  the  'wo'ms' 
in  ni}'  mouth.  But  some  o'  these  ministers,  the}- 
can  "t  get  the  people  on  the  hook,  because  the}^ 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


i6i 


don't  get  their  hooks  baited  with  live  bait — 
worms." 

"Were  there  many  ministers  in  Saratoga ?"J 

"  O,  dear  man  aHve !  Hundreds  of  'em — play- 
ing croquet,  and  ministers  going  to  the  races ! 
They  were  mostly  from  country  towns." 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  Saratoga  women?" 

"  Loud !  That 's  it.  Loud  in  every  way !  I 
can  not  see  where  the  good  looks  come  in.  They 
had  lots  of  toggery  on.  Diamonds — but  they  're 
only  rhinestones  when  you  get  close  to  them.  I 
said  in  my  talks  in  the  tent :  '  God  says,  Strip,  and 
show  them  that  it  was  not  outside  dress  that  counted 
v/ith  God.'  I  had  some  green  corn  in  my  tent,  one 
day,  when  I  spoke  to  a  large  audience.  I  showed 
them  a  cob  with  nice  husk  around  it,  and  I  said  : 
'  This  looks  like  a  good  one,  but  strip  it.'  I  stripped 
it,  and  the  cob  was  all  soft — just  a  little  nub.  '  And 
so  some  of  you  look  like  Christians ;  but  when  any 
one  comes  to  strip  you,  you  kick  and  don't  like  it, 
because  you  are  only  little  nubs  of  Christians.' 

"'No  harm  in  playing  croquet?'  said  I  to  the 
ministers.  '  You  pay  sixty  cents  an  hour  for  the 
grounds.  Then  some  of  your  congregation  come 
along  and  see  their  pastor  playing  croquet.  Then 
they  think  if  he  can  play  it,  surely  it  is  not  wrong 
for  them  to  go  to  the  horse-races.  Same  with  the 
club  and  dances  and  balls.' 

"  O  dear !  what  a  blaze  of  diamonds  I  saw !  I 
told  them  I  was  going  to  put  th-e  plowshare  six 
14 


l62 


TWICE  BORN. 


inches  deeper  than  usual,  and  I  told  them  if  they 
did  not  like  it  they  must  lump  it.  When  I  got 
through  the  plowing,  then  came  the  cultivating 
(that 's  the  '^asy  task,  you  know)  ;  and  the  last  two 
nights  there  were  fourteen  came  for  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  And  there  were  some  young,  wealthy  ladies 
came  out  too.  I  had  stacks  of  letters  sent  to  me. 
One  man  addressed  me  as  '  H.  O.  Wills,  Hallelujah 
Devil-driver.'  A  man  from  Fairhaven,  Conn.,  said 
he  had  been  benefited  by  my  preaching.  He  had 
had  many  doubts  in  his  mind  before  I  went  there  ; 
but  he  had  attended  th-e  meetings,  and  he  had  heard 
everything,  and  was  made  strong  in  Christ. 

*'  O  yes,  Saratoga  would  be  a  good  place  for  me 
to  go  another  summer,  and  it  would  be  a  good  place 
for  winter.  I  had  people  from  all  parts  listen  to 
me — from  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  New  York,  and 
Boston,  and  ever  so  man)^  other  places.  They  had 
a  big  coach  there,  with  dudes  and  ladies  all  over 
the  top  of  it,  and  four  horses  hitched  on,  and  a  horn 
as  long  as  my  two  arms — a  tally-ho  they  called  the 
thing.  So  I  got  a  wagon,  and  tacked  my  '  Devil's 
Toboggan-slide  '  picture  on  the  wagon,  and  got  a  big 
tin  horn,  an'  when  they  blowed  I  blowed  too,  and 
blowed  louder  than  they. 

"A  great  deal  is  being  done  to  get  Pat  Brady 
liberated,"  continued  Mr.  Wills.  "  Mr.  Moody  wrote 
a  long  letter  to  Governor  Hill,  and  a  lawyer  in  Troy 
has  written  a  number  of  letters,  and  he  is  bound  and 
determined  to  get  Brady  out.  I  am  just  as  sure  that 
I  shall  get  Brady  out  as  I  am  that  I  am  in  the  Jour- 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


163 


nal  office.  I  can 't  fail  now.  It  can 't  be  done  in  a 
minute,  but  it 's  only  a  question  of  a  little  time  now. 

"  I  have  had  a  big  battle,  and  I  have  had  a  good 
time.  I  like  the  work.  I  went  to  a  number  of 
places  while  I  was  out  there.  I  went  to  Northfield 
and  Round  I^ake.  Sam  Jones  was  at  Round  L<ake, 
and  got  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  five  days' 
work." 

*'  Do  they  give  you  anything?" 

"  They  do  'nt  give  me  anything.  I  worked  five 
days  in  Schuylerville,  N.  Y.,  and  they  gave  me 
twenty-five  cents  less  than  my  railroad  fare  cost  me. 
In  Saratoga  I  got  about  one  hundred  dollars,  and 
they  paid  for  my  board.  I  made  quite  a  little  from 
selling  my  photographs.  There  were  some  who  ob- 
jected to  my  selling  my  photographs;  but  I  told 
them  that  I  had  taken  the  best  counsel  in  the  West 
on  the  matter,  and  I  thought  there  was  no  harm  in 
selling  my  pictures.  Why,  one  man  said  to  me, 
'  Brother  Wills,  that  is  the  very  best  way  to  progress 
in  this  work.' 

"  I  am  going  to  try  and  get  Beecher's  hall  for  a 
week  or  so.  You  tell  the  people  that  I  have  n't 
brought  Brady  with  me;  but  I  will — I'm  positive 
I  will." 

A  PHII.OSOPHKR'S  COMPARISON. 
George  P.  Goodale,  for  years  city  editor  of 
the  Detroit  Free  Press^  and  at  present  dramatic 
critic  and  special  writer  for  that  paper,  is  the 


164 


TWICE  BORN. 


author  of  the  following,  one  of  his  "  pictures  " 
being  of  Wills : 

TWO  PICTURES. 

BY  SIGNOR  MAX. 
JTo.  98. 

Could  we  rightly  interpret  all  the  lessons  of  life 
we  might  be  able  largely  to  control  our  happiness, 
or  at  least  mitigate  our  miseries. 

Within  a  week  the  pious  world  has  been  shocked 
by  one  of  the  most  pitiful  and  tragic  endings  of  a 
human  life  that  it  is  possible  for  us  to  conceive.  A 
young  girl's  suicide  under  any  circumstances  must 
excite  a  lively  sympathy  in  all  but  the  wholly  sel- 
fish or  the  wholly  depraved;  but  when  she  goes 
down  to  the  grave  that  she  has  dug  for  herself,  with 
words  of  despairing  and  awful  reproach  to  Almighty 
God  upon  her  lips,  horror  is  added  to  sympathy. 

Here  was  a  girl  reared  in  the  religious  atmos- 
phere ;  to  whom  Christian  precept  and  practice  were 
familiar,  who  had  presumably  walked  untainted  along 
her  short  way  of  life,  and  yet  who  in  the  hour  of 
death  bequeathed  to  the  world  these  desperate  and 
whirling  words : 

*'  I  have  never  found  that  God  kept  me  in  the 
hour  of  trial,  and  I  have  never  dishonored  him  be- 
fore man.  O,  terrible  to  love  a  supposed  friend  and 
Savior,  and  to  find  the  one  you  believed  to  be  al- 
mighty to  save,  neither  able  nor  willing  to  do  aught 
for  you  !    As  to  the  peace  and  love  and  joy  that  is 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


165 


promised  to  a  Christian,  it  is  all  a  farce,  and  there 
is  no  such  thing." 

These  sentiments  have  been  characterized  by 
some  of  the  journals  of  the  day  as  blasphemous. 
One  writer  has  been  found  who  made  them  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  tragedy  his  justification  for 
assailing  the  dead  girl's  integrity.  Being  an  influ- 
ential writer  and  widely  read,  I  assume  that  many 
of  his  audience  favorably  entertain  his  opinion. 
While  that  may  not  very  strongl)^  support  their 
own  claim  of  Christian  charity,  I  do  not  feel  called 
upon  to  judge  them,  well  knowing  that  there  are 
men  and  women  so  thick-clad  in  virtue  as  never  to 
have  been  penetrated  by  compassion  for  the  vicious. 
To  loathe  the  sinner  as  w-ell  as  the  sin  is  a  natural 
expression  of  their  sense  of  exact  justice.  It  is  not 
for  me  to  cast  doubt  on  their  conviction  of  superior 
and  unassailable  holiness,  or  to  hint  that  there  is 
aught  in  their  judgment  of  human  acts  that  sug- 
gests the  Pharisee  or  the  assassin.  They  are  rather 
to  be  applauded  for  declining  to  recognize  any  claim 
of  the  woman  who,  while  walking  hand  in  hand 
with  despair  and  death,  could  be  so  insensible  to 
the  wrath  as  to  declare  these  things  : 

"  I  believed  in  God,  and  tried  to  brave  it  out. 

"I  have  suffered  enough  to  kill  ten  people  that 
had  not  the  bravery  of  a  lion. 

"  I  fought  against  unkindness  until  I  could  stand 
it  no  longer. 

,  "  I  have  loved  righteousness  with  all  my  heart. 


TWICE  BORN. 


"O  terrible!  to  love  right,  and  feel  there  is  no 
power  in  heaven  or  earth  that  can  bring  any  good 
to  triumph  over  evil,  or  help  those  who  strive  after 
righteousness." 

Duty  to  society  and  loyalty  to  our  beloved  faith 
alike  command  us  to  set  our  faces  in  perpetual 
frown  against  such  blasphemous  lamentation.  In 
that  conviction  I  am  immovable,  though  when  I 
began  to  consider  the  case  I  found  it  a  little  diffi- 
cult to  dispose  of  that  fragment  of  history  which, 
you  remember,  runs  in  this  wise  : 

**And  about  the  ninth  hour 
Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
Saying,  M}^  God !  my  Go;l ! 
Why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?" 

This  mournful  end  of  a  life  that  we  must  believe 
was  sweet  and  gentle  in  itself,  and  opulent  once  in 
promise  of  love  and  happiness,  brings  up  anew  the 
very  old  story  of  wreck  and  disaster  wdiere  woman 
garners  up  her  heart  and  finds  her  rock  but  shifting 
sand.  The  vigilant  telegraph  has  told  us  why  this 
woman  wrote  her  Book  of  Lamentations.  "  She 
had  been  engaged  to  a  young  clergyman  of  New 
York  City,  but  her  affianced  proved  fickle,  and  dur- 
ing her  absence  in  the  country  was  married  to  an- 
other woman.  It  is  believed  that  this  unfortunate 
love  affair  was  the  prime  cause  of  her  despair  and 
suicide." 

Were  I  a  teacher  to  whose  voice  the  people 
would  give  willing  ear,  I  think  I  could  offer  some- 
thing on  a  phase  of  the  so-called  woman  question 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


167 


that  would  be  heard  with  interest ;  but  being  the 
unknown  toiler  that  I  am,  let  me  persuade  the 
reader  to  note  that  Washington  Irving  (whom 
none,  I  am  sure,  will  refuse  to  hear)  has  said  most 
beautifully  what  I  would  as  beautifully  say  if  I 
could : 

Man  is  the  creature  of  interest  and  ambition. 
His  nature  leads  him  forth  into  the  struggle  and 
bustle  of  the  world.  Love  is  but  the  embellishment 
of  his  early  life,  or  a  song  piped  in  the  intervals  of 
the  acts.  He  seeks  for  fame,  for  fortune,  for  space 
in  the  world's  thought,  and  dominion  over  his  fel- 
low-men. But  a  woman's  whole  life  is  a  history  of 
the  affections.  The  heart  is  her  world ;  it  is  there 
her  ambition  strives  for  empire — it  is  there  her 
avarice  seeks  for  hidden  treasures.  She  sends 
forth  her  sympathies  on  adventure  ;  she  embarks 
her  whole  soul  in  the  traffic  of  affection ;  and  if  shi])- 
wrecked,  her  case  is  hopeless — for  it  is  a  bankruptcy 
of  the  heart.  Woman's  lot  is  to  be  wooed  and  won  ; 
and  if  unhappy  in  her  love,  her  heart  is  like  some 
fortress  that  has  been  captured,  and  sacked,  and 
abandoned,  and  left  desolate.  Look  for  her,  after  a 
while,  and  you  find  friendship  weeping  over  her 
untimely  grave,  and  wondering  that  one  who  but 
lately  glowed  with  all  the  radiance  of  health  and 
beauty  should  so  speedily  be  brought  down  to 
*  darkness  and  the  worm.'  " 

I  do  not  know  what  is  in  the  mind  of  that 
"  young  clergyman  of  New  York  City,"  but  I  re- 
member that  a  repenting  Judas  of  old  time  cried 


TWICE  BORN. 


out,  "  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betra3'ed  the 
innocent  blood,"  and  went  out  and  hanged  himself. 

The  melancholy  story  of  L^aura  Nourse  is  a  pic- 
ture all  in  shadow.  I  know  another  story  of  one 
fellow-creature's  experience  with  the  spiritual  side 
of  earth  which  is  all  light.  The  two  are  hung  at 
opposite  ends  of  the  gallery  of  life.  I  do  not  know 
that  they  teach  a  universal  lesson,  but  I  think  every 
mind  may  dwell  upon  them  with  interest  and  pos- 
sible profit. 

In  the  first  picture  we  see  a  woman  w^hose  path, 
from  petted  infancy  to  her  dismal  death,  was  strewn 
with  the  flowers  that  bloom  in  Christian  homes. 

The  second  picture  is  of  a  man  who  knew  noth- 
ing of  beauty,  nothing  of  virtue,  nothing  of  high 
thought,  and  all  of  depravity,  for  more  than  forty 
years,  yet  who  has  now  consecrated  himself  to 
good  w^orks,  and  is  daily  doing  the  noblest  and  most 
devoted  service  to  man  in  the  ideal  Christian's 
spirit.  He  is  no  fanciful  creation,  but  a  tangible, 
walking,  toiling,  flesh-and-blood  fact.  Until  two 
years  ago,  he  was  a  dangerous  menace  to  society — 
a  brawler,  a  criminal,  a  convict,  a  drunkard,  a  de- 
bauchee —  a  vulgar  and  brutal  despot  in  his 
squalid  home,  and  a  common  butcher  of  the  decen- 
cies of  life. 

These  are  harsh  lines ;  but  they  comprise  a  truth- 
ful likeness  of  the  man  as  he  was.  I  knew  him  at 
his  worst.  I  know  him  now,  and  it  is  my  opinion 
that  a  better  citizen  can  not  be  found  in  the  direct- 
ory.    The  change  in  him  is  a  nineteenth-century 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


169 


miracle.  Two  da^'s  ago  I  asked  him  to  recite  his 
version  of  it,  and  this  is  the  storj'  he  told  : 

"  It  was  all  brought  around  by  God's  love  and 
mercy.  You  know  there  was  n't  a  harder  man  livin' 
than  me,  nor  one  that  cared  less  for  superstition  and 
religion  and  all  that.  I  had  done  everything  that  a 
bad  man  could  do  who  did  n't  know  what  good  con- 
duct meant,  ever  since  I  was  eight  years  old.  Xobody 
ever  talked  to  me  about  religion,  and  I  do  n't  know- 
as  I 'd  ever  thought  about  it.  Two  years  ago  this 
fall  I  went  home  one  night  after  a  long  drunk,  with 
nerves  all  gone,  pockets  empt}',  and  no  food  for  my 
family.  I  tried  to  sleep,  but  I  could  n't  close  my 
eyes.  While  I  la}"  on  the  bed  wide  awake,  and  won- 
derin'  whether  there  was  n't  a  bottle  of  valerian  in 
the  house,  I  took  a  sudden  notion  that  m}-  time  had 
come.  Now,  you  know  I've  been  in  the  toughest 
places  a  man  ever  got  into  and  out  of,  and  never 
squealed — not  even  when  I've  nearly  had  the  life 
kicked  out  of  me.  That  do  n't  count  much,  maybe, 
but  I  never  knowed  the  time  that  I  feared  an5rthing 
in  mortal  shape.  I  was  n't  afraid  to  die ;  but  all  at 
once  I  was  overwhelmed  with  a  rushin'  sense  of  my 
whole  life,  like  a  dam  breakin'  away  with  the  spring 
floods,  and  sweepin'  ever\'thing  in  its  course  along 
helpless.  On  the  wall  I  seen  a  glimmxer  of  light. 
(I  know  it 's  natural  for  you  to  smile  at  that ;  but 
3-ou  want  me  to  tell  my  true  story,  and  I 'm  doing  it 
literal.)  As  I  kep'  lookin'  at  it  steady,  it  gradually 
took  the  form  of  an  ej^e  ;  and  I  says  to  myself:  // 
God's  offer  of  a  last  chance!  When  I  lay  down  on 
15 


TWICE  BORN. 


that  bed  I  was  an  unclean  thing,  soaked  with  whisky, 
steeped  in  tobacco,  and  a  blasphemer  of  everything 
that  men  hold  sacred  in  time  and  in  eternity.  From 
that  hour,  now  twenty-two  months  back,  I've  never 
once  had  the  name  of  God  on  my  lips,  except  in  rev- 
erence and  prayer. 

"  O  yes !  I  thought  I  was  bound  to  quit  tobacco 
and  drink,  as  well  as  other  unclean  habits,  because 
I  did  n't  see  how  I  could  make  my  body  God's  tem- 
ple without  first  givin'  it  a  scourin'  out.  The  love 
that  has  filled  my  heart  from  that  time  on  has 
brought  me  happiness  and  peace  greater  'n  I  can 
ever  tell.  O,  my  dear  friend,  you  should  come  to  my 
home,  and  see  the  wife  and  children  who  have  come 
out  of  the  depths  of  sorrow.  If  you  could  only 
catch — if  I  could  only  express — the  meaning  of  God's 
merciful  goodness,  as  it  has  been  shown  to  me,  you 
would  n't  wonder  that  I 'm  resolved  to  serve  him 
with  clean  hands  and  all  my  heart.  From  the  night 
when  his  eye  pierced  me,  I 've  never  felt  the  slightest 
wish  to  go  back  to  the  old  way  of  livin',  and  though 
I 'm  a  rough,  uncultured,  storm-beaten  old  pilgrim, 
I  thank  God  that  I  can  feel  the  inspiring  truth  of 
his  love,  and  that  I  can  find  words,  such  as  they  are, 
to  tell  men  what  that  love  has  done  for  me.  I 'm 
tryin'  to  be  a  livin'  epistle,  and  if  men  won't  read  the 
Scriptures,  they  must  have  a  chance  to  read  Wills." 

My  imagination  has  not  led  me  into  raptures  or 
exaggeration.  I  have  given  facts  and  set  down 
without  embellishment  the  words  of  this  ignorant 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


171 


man,  whose  rude  eloqueiiee  and  glowing  zeal  have 
made  his  little  mission-house  the  pool  where  many 
Helons  come  to  wash  their  leprosy. 

DID  N'T  WANT  A  PENSION. 

Shortly  after  the  appointment  of  Corporal  Tan- 
ner as  pension  commissioner,  Mr.  Wills  received  a 
card  from  the  Pension  Bureau,  asking  him  to  fill  out 
a  piinted  blank  on  it,  regarding  his  army  record. 
The  information  was  desired  as  an  addition  to  a  rec- 
ord that  has  been  established  in  the  Bureau  of  Pen- 
sions of  all  surviving  soldiers  and  sailors  who 
served  in  the  Union  army  or  nav}^  during  the 
late  war. 

Brother  Wills  is  not  particularly  proud  of  his 
war  record.  In  the  rebellion  days  he  was  num- 
bered among  the  Philistines.  He  was  a  bounty- 
jumper  and  deserter  of  the  most  accomplished  type. 
He  filled  out  the  blank  as  follows,  and  forwarded  it 
to  Washington  :  "Name,  Henry  O.  Wills  ;  late  rank, 
'  high  private ;'  company,  F,  in  all  round  regiment ; 
enlisted  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
fifth  New  York  ;  vessel,  Deserter ;  squad,  homeward 
bound.  Discharged?  No,  ran  away  at  Chicago  in 
'62  ;  enlisted  again  at  Buffalo,  and  deserted  again. 
Enlisted  again  and  again,  and  deserted  each  time. 
Residence,  357  Clinton  Street,  Detroit.  Future 
change  of  residence.  Heaven,  I  hope;  for  if  I  was  a  bad 
soldier  in  time  of  peril,  now  I  am  a  soldier  of  the 
cross,  and  enlisted  for  the  war.  Have  served  faith- 
fully for  six  years,  and  am  now  orderly  sergeant ; 


172 


TWICE  BORN. 


but  I  hope  soon  to  be  promoted  to  a  captaincy.  I 
hope  this  card  will  find  its  way  to  some  one  who 
is  a  true  soldier  of  the  cross ;  or,  if  not,  that  it  may 
meet  the  eye  of  some  one  now  in  rebellion  against 
the  best  government  in  the  world;  namely,  the 
government  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  God  bless 
Corporal  Tanner  for  his  love  of  the  soldier  !  Please 
do  n't  think  I  am  a  crank.    Make  an  investigation." 

All  over  the  card  were  pasted  little  stickers, 
bearing  Scripture  texts. 

WILLS  AT  BAY  CITY. 
One  of  the  most  successful  missions  ever 
conducted  by  Mr.  Wills  was  at  Bay  City — the 
third  largest  city  in  Michigan — and  while  great 
work  was  done,  through  God,  the  experience  re- 
sulted in  a  somewhat  interesting  Ji7iale.  The 
Bay  City  Tribune^  speaking  of  Mr.  Wills's  ef- 
forts and  methods  during  the  revival,  said: 

The  arch  enemy  of  mankind  is  on  the  run. 
Evangelist  Wills  got  his  head  turned  in  the  right 
direction  Saturday  evening,  and  last  night  set  him 
in  motion.  It  was  a  bad  night  for  people  to  leave 
their  homes  for  any  reason;  but  while  the  wealthy 
and  aristocratic  remained  inside,  and  the  preachers 
in  the  fashionable  churches  spoke  to  empty  pews, 
several  hundred  workingmen,  with  their  wives  and 
families,  made  their  way  through  the  pelting  storm 
to  the  City  Mission.    Every  chair  was  occupied,  and 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


173 


standing-room  was  in  order  before  the  services  com- 
menced. Brother  Wills  had  two  clocks  fastened  to 
the  wall  over  the  platform,  and  used  them  to  illus- 
trate the  address  of  the  evening,  after  music  by 
Hudson's  orchestra.  Both  clocks  bore  the  same  ap- 
pearance to  the  unaided  eye ;  but,  while  one  was 
perfect  in  its  works,  well  regulated,  and  capable  of 
keeping  good  time,  the  other  was  without  works  at 
all,  and  of  no  value  whatever. 

"  Faith  without  works  is  dead,"  quoted  Brother 
Wills  ;  "  and  if  that  clock  is  taken  to  represent  faith, 
it  is  without  life.  You  would  n't  put  any  faith  in  it 
either,  if  you  wanted  to  know  what  time  it  was." 

The  good  clock  represented  the  Christian ;  the 
other,  the  man  without  the  love  of  the  Lord  in  his 
heart;  and  the  speaker  drew  the  comparison  be- 
tween the  two  very  finely  and  skillfully  from  first 
to  last.  The  story  of  Patrick  E.  Brady's  prison-life 
was  again  quaintly  told,  and  the  latter  made  a  brief 
address,  in  which  he  stated  that  Thursday  or  Friday 
night  he  would  relate  his  prison  experience,  suffer- 
ing confinement,  innocently,  for  nearly  thirty-one 
years,  to  a  Bay  City  audience.  He  returned  to  De- 
troit last  night  to  look  after  some  work  in  that  cor- 
ner of  Brother  Wills's  vineyard,  but  he  will  be  in 
Bay  City  again  Thursday  morning.  Some  of  Brother 
Wills's  quaint  sayings  last  night  were  as  follows  : 

"  How  will  the  miser  feel  when  he  goes  to  hell, 
and  the  Lord  takes  the  love  of  money  out  of  his 
heart  ?  Do  n't  you  think  that  will  add  to  his  pun- 
ishment ? 


174 


TWICE  BORN. 


"You  need  never  think  that  God  will  go  with 
you  into  a  game  of  cards,  and  help  you  out,  espe- 
cially if  you  hide  a  good  hand  up  your  sleeve. 

**You  laborers,  who  get  but  ninety  cents  a  day 
while  your  employers  are  coining  your  life's  blood 
into  gold  need  not  be  ashamed  or  too  modest  to 
come  to  Christ.  He  was  a  workingman  himself,  and 
if  he  were  here  now  I  believe  he  would  be  at  the 
head  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  instead  of  Powderly. 

When  a  man  with  old  clothes  on,  and  moccasins 
upon  his  feet,  calls  at  your  house  for  help,  do  n't  turn 
him  away.  You  do  n't  know  who  he  may  be.  Christ 
used  to  go  round  in  plain  garb  himself. 

**  If  you  are  sinking  in  the  sea  of  sin,  and  I 
throw  3^ou  a  rope,  you  may  not  want  to  take  it,  and 
if  you  do  n't,  you  ought  to  hand  it  to  some  other 
fellow." 

Just  before  the  meeting  was  dismissed  Brother 
Wills  asked  all  those  who  desired  his  prayers  to  hold 
up  their  hands.  Two  or  three  were  raised.  Then 
he  asked  those  who  considered  themselves  Chris- 
tians to  stand  up.  Over  fifty  did  so.  Finally,  about 
twenty-five  men  and  women,  the  most  of  the  former 
looking  like  woodsmen,  expressed  a  desire  to  lead 
better  lives,  and  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  had  a 
few  minutes'  conversation  in  private  with  the 
evangelist. 

Illustrating  the  gossip,  the  backbitings,  and 
other  trials  which  all  evangelists  must  meet,  and 
to  show  Mr.  Wills's  method  of  fighting  such 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


enemies,  the  following  from  the  Detroit  Evening 
News  is  published: 

There  is  some  question  about  Brother  Wills's 
board-bill  at  Bay  City,  according  to  the  Bay  City 
Press.  In  flaming,  double-column  head-lines  it  an- 
nounces :  "  Brother  Wills's  Board-bill !"  "  He  stopped 
at  the  Rouech  House  for  ten  days,  and  the  question 
agitating  the  mind  of  the  landlord  is,  Who  will  pay 
for  the  brother's  meat  and  drink?"  "  The  Board  of 
City  Missions  refuses  to  pay."  "  Brother  Glidden 
promised  to  be  responsible,  and  it  looks  as  though 
the  burden  would  fall  on  his  shoulders.  Sequel  of 
the  recent  revival." 

The  paper  then  gives  the  details  of  a  recent 
meeting,  and  says : 

"  The  bill  of  H.  O.  Wills  for  fourteen  dollars  for 
board  at  the  Rouech  House  during  his  stay  here 
was  disallowed.  The  Board  was  unanimously  of  the 
opinion  that  the  mission  funds  should  not  be  di- 
verted to  such  a  purpose.  There  was  considerable 
dissatisfaction  expressed  at  the  record  Wills  made 
while  here ;  and  the  city  missionary  was  further 
enjoined  not  to  hire  any  more  so-called  evangelists. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Board  to  conduct  the  mis- 
sion in  a  quiet,  orderly  way,  and  it  does  n't  approve 
the  hullabaloo  method  of  assaulting  the  ramparts 
of  Satan.  The  regular  meetings  of  the  Board  will 
hereafter  be  held  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  each 
month." 

A  News  reporter  called  at  Brother  Wills's  resi- 


176 


TWICE  BORN. 


dence,  357  Clinton  Avenue,  this  morning,  but  the 
evangelist  was  down  street.  The  above  item  was 
shown  to  Mr.  Brady,  who  was  at  Bay  City  with 
Brother  Wills. 

"Disallowed,  eh?"  said  Mr.  Brady.  "Well,  I 
heard  the  city  missionary'  tell  Mr.  Wills  during  a 
conversation  in  Mission  Hall  at  the  expiration  of 
the  week's  work  there,  that  Mr.  Wills's  expenses  at 
the  hotel  would  be  paid." 

"How"  were  your  expenses  paid,  Mr.  Brady?" 

"  Mr.  Wills  told  me  that  he  paid  two  dollars  a 
day  for  me  out  of  his  own  pocket." 

Later  Mr.  Wills  was  interviewed  on  the  subject, 
and  said : 

"  The  biggest  share  of  the  Bay-  City  Mission 
Board  is  Universalist,  as  I  understand  it.  That 's 
the  reason  they  do  n't  believe  in  onslaught.  I  '11 
tell  you  how  it  was.  I  was  in  Alpena  with  Bradj^ 
holding  a  sort  of  little  lecture  tour  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  money  enough  to  send  him  home  to  Eng- 
land. Rev.  Mr.  Glidden  wTote  me,  asking  what  I 'd 
come  to  Bay  City  and  work  for.  My  wife  forwarded 
the  letter  to  Alpena  to  me.  When  through  at 
Alpena,  I  had  intended  going  to  Bay  City  anyway 
to  get  a  hall  for  Brady  to  tell  his  story  in,  and  while 
there  I  thought  I  might  as  well  do  the  mission- 
work.  So  I  telegraphed  Mr.  Glidden  in  answer  to 
his  letter,  to  get  me  a  place  to  stop,  and  that  I 
would  be  there  that  night.  He  got  bills  out  after 
he  received  my  telegram  that  da}^  announcing  us 
for  that  evening,  and  had  a  bell-boy  from  the  Rouech 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


177 


House  meet  us  on  the  train  before  it  reached  Bay 
City,  to  conduct  us  to  the  hotel. 

"  I  spoke  in  the  Mission  Hall  Saturday  and  Sun- 
day nights.  Monday  night  was  their  meeting,  and 
they  held  it.  Tuesday,  Rev.  Mr.  Glidden  came  to 
me,  and  said  the  Board  could  n't  pay  me  anything, 
but  would  pay  my  bill  at  the  hotel,  and  Mr.  Glidden 
so  told  Mr.  Rouech.  I  asked  Mr.  Rouech  before 
coming  away:  '  Is  it  understood  between  you  and 
Mr.  Glidden  that  the  Board  will  pay  my  bill  here  ?* 
Mr.  Rouech  replied  that  was  his  understanding, 
and  said  everything  was  all  right.  I  paid  Brady's 
board.  Mr.  Glidden  gave  me  all  the  collections  of 
the  mission  that  week. 

"Now  as  regards  my  hullabaloo  methods,  I  wish 
to  say  that  the  Board  not  being  evangelical,  but  a 
big  share  of  it  Universalists,  no  doubt  they  do  n't 
like  my  handling  of  them  without  gloves.  That 's 
the  sum  and  substance  of  it.  I  preached  for  Rev. 
Mr.  Morgan  in  the  West  Bay  City  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  Sunday  morning,  and  talked  to  the 
largest  Sunday-school  that 's  been  known  there  since 
their  church  was  built. 

"If  my  methods  have,  been  wrong,  they  never- 
theless called  people  to  the  Mission  Hall  until  they 
had  to  be  turned  away.  Sunday  night  the  hall  was 
packed  and  jammed,  and  standing-room  was  at  a 
premium  because  *  Christ  was  lifted  up.'  (John 
xii,  32.)  Rain  was  coming  down  in  torrents,  and 
still  they  stood  in  the  streets  to  listen.  Seven  dol- 
lars was  given  that  night  by  the  common  working- 


1 78  TWICE  BORN. 

people  at  the  collection.  That  shows  whether  the 
work  was  appreciated  or  not. 

"At  the  meeting  Sunday  night,  that  is,  after  the 
dismissal  of  the  people,  we  held  a  second  meeting, 
at  which  between  thirty  and  fifty  men  and  women, 
without  any  pulling  or  hauling,  walked  deliberately 
to  the  front,  and  made  a  decided  stand  for  Christ. 
If  that 's  hullabaloo,  God  send  some  more  hullabaloo 
methods  to  Bay  City  to  assault  the  ramparts  of 
Satan  and  Universalism.  The  devil  and  kirmess 
and  Universalism  have  truly  got  a  stronghold  there." 

THE  DEFENSE  IS  GOOD. 

The  Evening  News  continues  : 

Evangelist  H.  O.  Wills  has  received  the  follow- 
ing letter  from  George  L.  lyusk,  of  West  Bay  City, 
regarding  that  unpaid  board-bill.  Mr.  Lusk  is  su- 
perintendent of  a  Methodist  Sunday-school,  and  his 
words  will  carry  weight : 

"  WEvST  Bay  City,  January  23,  1890. 

Dear  Brother  Wills, — I  wish  you  to  be- 
lieve that  this  is  a  huge  love-letter,  in  point  of  size, 
of  spirit,  and  true  fraternity.  I  send  you  with  this 
mail  a  paper  which  will,  no  doubt,  reveal  statements 
quite  misleading — certainly  unjust  and  entirely  un- 
justified. I  believed  when  first  I  saw  this  con- 
temptible head-line  that  your  version  of  the  matter 
had  not  been  given,  and  I  know  such  information 
from  yourself  would  put  a  vastly  different  light  on 
the  question.    I  looked  for  some  defense  by  Mr. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


179 


Gliddeti,  or  some  one  as  well  informed,  in  your  be- 
half, but  have  seen  none  in  the  papers.  I  believe 
the  paper  is  directly  responsible  for  publishing  such 
meanness,  and  stigmatizing  a  worthy  name  without 
cause.  I  have  ordered  my  paper  stopped  indefi- 
nitely. 

"  I  would  add  my  wish  for  your  health  and  hap- 
piness. I  am  truly  happy  in  the  remembrance  of 
your  visit  to  our  Church  and  my  home  Sunday. 
From  a  personal  condition,  it  was  one  of  the  best 
occasions  in  a  young  life.  I  am  delighted  in  the 
memory  of  our  association  together  Sunday.  I 
have  listened  to  Talmage  with  eagerness  and  de- 
light ;  to  our  eloquent  Vincent ;  to  Wendling,  Wil- 
lits,  Henson,  Wright,  Fisk,  Foss,  Goodsell,  New- 
man, and  a  host  of  such  grand  men — listened  to 
each  and  all  of  them  with  pleasure  and  sincere  ap- 
preciation; but,  withal,  it  remained  for  H.  O.  Wills, 
in  truth  and  love,  and  by  the  vigorous  recital  of 
pathetic  and  irresistible  facts,  to  touch  my  inner- 
most being,  and  open  every  avenue  of  my  soul  in 
gratitude  to  God.  That  was  a  magnificent  effort.  I 
wish  that  you  could  continue  to  tell  such  a  story  for 
one  thousand  years.  The  joys  of  life  to  a  million 
souls  would  surely  be  more  plenteous,  and  heaven 
would  be  richer  in  very  deed. 

*  Tell  it  again  !    Tell  it  again ! 
Salvation's  story  repeat  o'er  and  o'er,' 

"  I  pray  that  God  will  continue  to  lead  and  bless 
you  and  yours  graciously. 


i8o 


TWICE  BORN. 


"  I  shall  follow  you  as  you  go  on  such  missions 
of  love  and  '  good-will  to  men  '  with  much  eager- 
ness and  high  anticipation. 

"Very  sincerely  yours, 

George  Iv.  Lusk." 

PAT  BRADY'S  STORY. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  achievements  in 
the  life  of  Mr.  Wills  was  his  success,  after  years 
of  w^ork,  in  obtaining  a  pardon  for  Patrick 
Brady,  serving  a  life  sentence  at  Auburn  (N.  Y.) 
prison.  Brady's  thrilling  story,  already  alluded 
to  in  this  volume,  is  told  in  his  own  words  as 
follows,  which  narrative  he  first  reduced  to 
writing  to  send  to  Mr.  Wills : 

H.  O.  W11.1.S : 

Dear  Sir  and  True  Friend, — Embarrassed 
with  emotions  of  mingled  gratitude  and  anxiety,  I 
am  seated  in  my  lonely  cell,  attempting  to  acknowl- 
edge your  kind  and  welcome  letter,  and  to  give  you 
an  outline  of  my  unhappy  life  and  its  perpetual 
thralldom.  I  am  encouraged  to  this  by  the  fact 
that,  in  this  gloomy  gulf  of  deep  despair,  you  yet  re- 
main the  one  unextinguished,  constant  beacon-light 
that  cheers  me  to  make  another  feeble  struggle  to 
reach  my  long  and  vainly-sought  haven  of  hope, 
which  else  must  prove  the  paradise  of  my  despair. 

When  but  thirteen  years  old,  I  left  home  with 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


183 


my  uncle,  an  officer  in  the  English  navy,  to  be 
trained  and  schooled  in  that  service  until  old  and 
steady  enough  to  enter  college.  My  home  was 
then  in  Ireland.  This  uncle  carried  me  to  the 
Black  Sea  in  1854,  where  he  went  on  some  mission 
connected  with  the  Crimean  War.  For  some  breach 
of  discipline  he  severely  flogged  me.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  I  ran  away  from  him  when  he  re- 
turned to  England,  and  went  to  another  uncle,  who 
was  the  captain  and  owner  of  a  ship.  He  took  me 
as  cabin-boy  on  several  voyages,  until  I  ran  away 
from  him  at  Quebec,  and  came  into  the  State  of 
New  York  at  Niagara  Falls,  in  May,  1858,  when  I 
was  seventeen  years  old.  I  gradually  worked  my 
way  to  Albany,  where  I  got  into  bad  company, 
which  resulted  in  my  commitment  to  Clinton  Prison 
on  December  19,  1858,  for  a  term  of  three  3^ears  and 
six  months,  on  a  charge  of  burglary  in  the  third 
degree.  Early  days  of  July,  1861,  I  was  persuaded 
to  escape,  although  nearly  three-fourths  of  my  sen- 
tence had  then  expired. 

There  were  some  ten  of  us  to  go.  James 
Sewell  was  the  leader.  We  were  at  work  as  a  night- 
gang  in  the  rolling-mill.  Sewell  had  provided  a 
key  to  unlock  the  mill  door.  There  was  no  time 
fixed  to  start ;  we  were  to  go  the  first  opportunity 
to  unlock  the  door.  My  part  was  to  carry  a  sack 
of  bread  that  was  secreted  near  where  I  worked. 
The  open  door  was  to  be  the  signal  to  make  the 
break  for  liberty.  A  few  minutes  past  midnight, 
July  12,  1 86 1,  I  saw  the  door  wide  open,  snatched 


TWICE  BORN. 


the  bread,  and  rushed  out  just  behind  some  others 
of  the  party.  I  saw  nothing  of  our  keeper  (Au- 
gustus Wright)  nor  Sewell  when  I  went  out. 
Seven  escaped,  the  hearts  of  three  having  failed 
them  at  the  last  moment.  Four  of  us  crossed  the 
fence  together.  When  we  were  over,  Sewell  said: 
**  Boys,  I  have  killed  Wright !"  He  said,  when  he 
made  the  start  he  ran  against  the  keeper,  caught  up 
a  four-inch  bolt,  and  struck  him  with  it,  intending 
merely  to  stun  him;  but  that  hitting  har4,  in  the 
excitement  of  the  moment,  and  striking  the  temple, 
the  blow  proved  fatal.  Sewell  had  the  keeper's 
watch  and  pistol.  Three  da3^s  after,  we  were  caught 
and  returned  to  the  prison.  Sewell  admitted  at 
once  that  he  alone  was  responsible  for  the  death  of 
Wright.  We  were  chained  to  the  floor  of  dungeons, 
and  thus  remained  for  three  months.  Early  in  1862 
we  were  carried  to  Plattsburg,  to  stand  for  murder 
in  the  first  degree. 

The  three  convicts  who  staid  behind  at  the 
time  of  the  escape  were  promised  pardon  for  testi- 
fying against  us.  We  were  denied  the  right  to  chal- 
lenge the  jurors.  Two  of  the  seven,  w^ho  had  influ- 
ential friends,  were  not  tried;  and  two  others,  who 
had  friends  with  money,  were  acquitted.  The  trial 
commenced  at  the  opening  of  court  in  the  morning, 
and  three  of  us  were  convicted  and  sentenced  by 
seven  o'clock  P.  M.  the  same  day.  We  were  sen- 
tenced to  hard  labor  for  one  year,  and  to  be  hanged 
at  the  end  of  that  time. 


O.  WILLS. 


185 


The  next  morning  after  this  sentence  a  chain 
was  riveted  to  my  leg,  to  which  was  attached  a 
twenty-six-pound  ball,  which  I  wore  day  and  night 
altogether  five  years,  one  month,  and  twenty-five 
days,  from  which  resulted  lameness  for  life.  I  was 
put  to  work  in  the  tailor-shop  for  some  time ;  then 
I  was  returned  to  the  rolling-mill,  with  my  ball  and 
chain.  After  a  time,  my  services  being  very  valu- 
able, the  ball  and  chain  were  taken  off,  and  I  w^as 
again  put  to  work  with  the  night-gang.  Four  hor- 
rible years  had  passed  over  my  wretched  head  un- 
der sentence  of  death  all  that  time.  For  three  years 
I  looked  every  morning  for  the  mail  to  bring  my 
suspended  death-warrant,  which  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  governor. 

The  rolling-mill  was  fully  five  hundred  j^ards 
from  the  prison.  It  had  been  a  one-story  saw-niill. 
The  unbarred  skylights  were  but  a  few  feet  from 
the  ground,  and  a  ladder  always  handy.  At  any 
time  I  could  put  myself  on  the  ground  in  less  than 
a  minute,  where  my  way  would  be  clear  to  liberty. 
The  temptation  to  this  constant  opportunity  through 
the  long  hours,  night  after  night,  and  the  anticipa- 
tion of  what  the  morrow  might  bring,  at  last  ren- 
dered my  situation  intolerable.  I  went  away,  but 
was  caught  before  a  great  while,  and  returned  to  my 
recent  chain  and  its  heavy  ball.  After  ten  years  of 
excruciating  suspense,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
wing  of  the  death-angel,  my  sentence  was  com- 
muted to  a  doom  of  perpetual  incarceration  in  a 
16 


TWICE  BORN. 


living  tomb,  the  cruel,  bitter  experience  of  which 
has  now  been  my  lot  nearly  fifteen  tedious,  dreary 
years. 

With  the  many  noble  and  humane  efforts  that 
have  been  made  for  my  relief  you  are  not  acquainted. 
The  recommendations  of  all  the  leading  citizens  of 
Plattsburg ;  of  the  British  consul ;  of  the  New  York 
Herald,  at  the  expense  of  sending  a  representative 
to  ithe  prison  to  investigate,  a  three-column  article 
and  a  long  editorial,  as  the  result,  in  issue  of  Sep- 
tember 8,  1879,  and  a  liberal  article  in  issue  of 
August  20,  1880;  and  of  your  own  kind  exertions 
since. 

Year  after  year  I  am  held,  seemingly  the  vic- 
tim of  example,  while  scores  of  cold-blooded  mur- 
derers, whose  guilt  was  undoubted,  have  been  par- 
doned. Many  and  many  times  have  I  been  told, 
**  We  do  n't  give  a  d — n  whether  you  are  guilty  or 
innocent;  you  will  be  held  just  the  same,  simply  for 
the  sake  of  example."  I  am  persuaded  that  this 
spirit,  and  the  lingering  prejudices  entwined  with 
the  record  of  my  last  escape,  have  combined  to  gen- 
erate the  untoward  influence  that  has  prevented  my 
liberation  for  the  past  ten  or  more  years.  I  believe 
that  each  governor  before  whom  my  applications 
have  been  presented,  labored  under  the  erroneous 
impression  that  my  last  escape  was  after  my  com- 
mutation of  sentence.  Justly  the  escape  should  not 
have  prejudiced  my  cause.  I  was  not  legally  in  the 
rolling-mill  in  the  tempting  presence  of  that  oppor- 
tunity.   My  sentence  of  a  year  at  hard  labor  had 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


187 


expired  three  years  before.  There  was  no  legal  au- 
thority to  keep  me  at  work  another  day  after  that 
expiration,  while  the  death  sentence  remained  un- 
disturbed. Properly  I  should  have  been  in  a  cell 
m  a  county  jail.  Certainly  the  officials  had  no  right 
to  have  me  away  from  the  prison  at  work  in  the 
night.  Under  all  the  circumstances,  few  rational 
persons  can  blame  that  escape.  In  my  conscious 
innocence,  I  knew  I  was  fleeing  from  an  unjust 
doom. 

Besides  his  early  admissions  long  since,  Sewell 
made  two  affidavits  exonerating  me  from  any  com- 
plicity in  his  crime ;  he  is  now  dead.  James  F. 
Brady  and  Charles  O'Conor  declared  the  law  under 
which  I  was  convicted  unconstitutional;  its  aban- 
donment, together  with  the  fact  that  out  of  eighteen 
capital  sentences  under  it  there  was  not  one  execu- 
tion, confirmed  their  theory.  Out  of  the  eighteen, 
all  but  our  ill-fated  trio  have  been  liberated  more 
than  fifteen  years.  This  seems  to  afford  further 
proof  that  the  law  was  without  authority.  If  the 
law  was  unconstitutional  for  others,  why  not  for 
me?  Can  it  be,  in  this  free  country  and  enlight- 
ened age,  because  I  was  a  friendless  stranger  and  a 
convict  when  I  was  tried? 

Out  of  more  than  two  hundred  life  men  in  the 
prisons  of  the  State  at  the  time  of  my  conviction, 
there  is  but  one  now  in  confinement.  The  average 
time  actually  served  by  the  large  number  who  have 
been  released  by  executive  clemency  was  less  than 
fifteen  years,  and  very  few,  if  even  one,  of  them 


i88 


TWICE  BORN. 


were  in  as  long  as  I  have  been,  nor  were  the\'  re- 
leased under  plea  of  innocence.  O,  perverted  jus- 
tice I  O,  partial  mercy  I  Where,  O  where,  slum- 
bers th}^  vaunted  equity  and  divine  attributes,  to 
permit  influence  to  unshackle  the  guilt}'  while  thy 
ministers  are  deaf  to  the  prayers  of  the  innocent  and 
friendless?  The  law  under  which  I  was  tried  was 
passed  in  i860,  and  repealed  in  1861,  after  the  escape, 
but  before  the  trial.  This  circumstance  should  be 
considered,  together  with  the  fact  that  I  was  a  boy 
at  the  time  of  escape ;  but  there  was  no  testimonj- 
against  me  more  than  against  the  two  who  were 
not  tried  and  the  two  who  were  acquitted ;  that  the 
only  witnesses  were  three  convicts,  originally  of  the 
part}'  to  attempt  the  escape,  and  that  they  were 
bribed  with  the  inducement  of  pardons ;  even  the}-, 
however,  did  not  implicate  me  in  the  assault  on  the 
keeper. 

Samuel  D.  Phillips,  an  officer  at  Clinton  Prison, 
the  person  on  the  spot  after  the  assault  was  com- 
mitted, swears  that  all  the  circumstances  and  evi- 
dence of  the  convicts  present  at  the  time  of  the 
assault  went  to  show  that  James  Sewell  was  the 
only  man  who  struck  Augustus  F.  Wright.  Two 
other  keepers,  William  H.  Graves  and  Abner  S. 
Roberts,  swore  to  the  same.  The  chaplain,  August 
24,  1879,  says  :  "  Patrick  Brad}'  is  one  of  a  few  men 
confined  in  this  prison  for  whose  liberation  I  am  ex- 
ceedingly anxious.  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  his 
long  confinement  has  much  more  than  answered  the 
ends  of  justice,  and  that  therefore  he  ought  to  be 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


free  at  once.  From  what  I  have  learned  of  his 
case,  I  can  not  consider  it  an  aggravated  one  Jjvy 
any  means.  I  can  discover  in  him  no  disposition  to 
wrong  his  fellow-man  ;  on  the  contrary,  I  see  in  him 
the  elements  of  an  industrious  man  and  good 
citizen." 

I  write  you  this  letter  with  some  uncertain, 
shadowy  hope  that  you  may  be  able  in  some  way  to 
make  it  instrumental  in  enlisting  such  good  people 
in  my  behalf  as  might  be  induced  to  sue  for  my 
emancipation  from  the  fearful  doom,  and  not  in  vain. 
I  have  no  other  medium  of  appeal  to  the  world,  from 
which  I  have  been  so  long  and  cruelly  banished. 
Surely  there  are  many  good  people  in  the  common- 
wealth ready,  if  they  knew  the  hardship  and  injus- 
tice of  my  awful  situation,  to  take  measures  to  pre- 
vent its  perpetual  continuance.  If  such  intercessors 
can  not  be  found,  there  is  no  end  to  anticipate  but 
the  redemption  that  death  must  some  time  bestow. 
To  the  contemplation  of  the  guilty  such  a  fate  must 
be  terrible,  to  the  innocent  it  is  nameless. 

O,  I  am  a  friendless  waif,  the  sport  of  adverse 
circumstances  in  a  strange  land !  In  the  name  ot 
benignant  charity,  I  beseech  all  Christian  people 
for  the  love  of  Christ,  and  all  honest  people  for  the 
love  of  justice,  to  let  me  breathe  my  last  beyond  the 
polluted  shadows  of  these  walls,  free  from  the  men- 
ace of  these  bars  and  bolts,  to  whose  stern  frown 
and  stifling  breath  I  have  been  a  prey  for  10,240 
days,  245,760  hours,  14,745,600  minutes,  884,736,000 
seconds — think  of  this!    Kach  one  of  this  appalling 


190 


TWICE  BORN. 


accumulation  of  seconds  has  been  to  me  an  infinit}^ 
a  pulsating  pang  of  living  death.  I  am  prematurely 
aged,  bent  as  under  the  weight  of  fourscore  3^ears, 
maimed  and  emaciated.  O,  who  but  God  can 
measure  the  depth  of  my  anguish  as  I  turn  on  my 
pillow  in  these  slowly  journejang  nights  in  my 
twent3'-ninth  3^ear  of  brooding  darkness  and  haunt- 
ing despair,  that  makes  me  wish  for  that  sleep  that 
knows  no  waking  ?  Again  and  again  I  had  the 
greetings  of  a  "Happ3^  New- Year " — w^hat  hollow 
mockery!  Happiness  to  me  is  a  stranger  for  ever- 
more. I  must  sensibl3^  realize  that  I  have  no  claim  on 
you  or  the  public,  more  than  what  friendlessness  and 
wretchedness  under  unjust  persecution  have  ever3^- 
where  on  common  humanit3%  and  on  this  I  must 
fondl3'  rest  m3"  earnest  application,  and  will  tr3^  to 
trust  that  it  may  be  crowned  and  blessed  this  once 
with  success. 

Your  ver3^  humble  and  much  obliged  servant, 
[Signed,]  Pat.  Brady. 

Auburn  Prison,  N.  Y.,  June  27,  1S87  , 

It  only  remains  to  be  said  that  on  »Septeniber 
4,  1889,  Governor  Hill  signed  Brady's  pardon, 
who,  after  thirt3'  years,  seven  months,  and  twenty- 
six  days  of  existence  as  a  convict,  was  a  free 
man  again.  He  went  into  prison  a  bo3'  onl3" 
seventeen  years  old;  he  came  out  prematurely 
old,  white-headed,  bent,  and  broken.  Wills  was 
on  hand  to  meet  him  (having  been  notified  by 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


191 


Governor  Hill),  and  at  once  he  brought  him  to 
his  home  in  Detroit.  Six  or  eight  months  later, 
through  God's  goodness,  shown  through  Wills's 
efforts,  he  was  able  to  start  for  Europe,  in  the  hope 
of  finding  his  relatives. 

Reaching  England,  he  found  two  sisters  still 
living.  Brady's  real  name,  never  learned  till  he 
returned  to  Europe,  is  Charles  E.  Beresford. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


The  above  word  looks  well  in  large  type,  but 
in  its  appearance  it  comes  nowhere  near  ex- 
pressing the  gratitude  and  pride  I  feel  in  the 
receipt  and  ownership  of  a  bushel  or  two  of  let- 
ters, all  bearing  evidence  of  the  power  and 
glory  of  God.  I  publish  a  few,  trusting  that 
you  are  sufficiently  interested  in  the  matter  to 
examine  this  book  to  its  end;  and  all  I  have  to 
say  in  regard  to  them  is,  that  they  are  among 
my  choicest  treasures,  coming  as  they  have 
without  solicitation,  and,  as  I  firmly  believe, 
from  the  very  depths  of  the  heart  of  each  and 
every  writer. 

WIIvI^S  AT  I.ANSING. 

I^ANSiNG,  Mich.,  Nov.  22,  1889. 
To  H.  O.  W11.LS: 

Dear  Brother, — I  write  you  commendation, 
and  nothing  else. 

Whenever  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  listen- 
192 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


193 


ing  to  you,  I  have  thought  of  Paul  to  Tim- 
othy," second  book,  fourth  chapter,  and  five  first 
verses:  "Preach  the  word;"  "watch;"  "endure 
affliction;"  "do  the  work"  of  an  evangelist; 
"make  full  proof  of  thy  ministry."  Keep  hum- 
ble; lie  at  the  foot  of  the  cross.  God  bless  you, 
and  give  you  thousands  of  souls  as  seals  to  your 
ministry.  D.  C.  Jennings. 

Lansing,  Mich.,  Nov.  25,  1889. 

Dear  Brother  Wills, — I  thank  God  that 
1  have  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  a  man  that 's 
not  afraid  to  speak  the  truth. 

For  a  long  time  I  have  had  a  hungering  and 
thirsting  for  the  truth,  and  you  have  explained 
the  Word  as  I  never  heard  it  before,  and  I  have 
fed  on  it  with  relish ;  and  mean,  by  God's  help, 
to  keep  up  the  search  that  I  may  be  the  means 
in  God's  hands  of  doing  more  good  than  I  ever 
have  done. 

I  shall  ever  remember  you  in  my  prayers, 
that  God  may  bless  you  in  your  work.  God  be 
with  you  till  we  meet  again.  Good-bye. 

Mrs.  a.  Childs. 

17 


194 


TWICE  BORN. 


Lansing,  Mich.,  Nov.  21,  1889. 

I  have  attended  as  many  of  the  meetings 
from  the  first  as  I  possibly  could,  and  have  ap- 
preciated them  very  much.  I  am  convinced  that 
Brother  Wills  has  done  a  great  work  in  this  city. 

He  has  been  the  instrument  through  which 
the  lyord  has  rescued  many  souls,  I  am  satisfied. 
I  think  he  has  reached  many  who  never  would 
have  been  saved  but  for  his  efforts.  I  know  it 
is  through  him  that  great  joy  has  been  brought 
into  the  hearts  of  my  husband  and  myself,  and 
a  light  into  oiir  lives,  which  has  given  us  a  peace 
which  we  never  knew  before — **  the  peace  which 
passeth  all  understanding." 

Very  sincerely,       Mrs.  S.  C.  Oatman. 

Lansing,  Mich.,  Nov.  22,  1889. 

Brother  H.  O.  Wills, — Please  accept  a 
small  offering  from  a  laboring-man,  as  a  partial 
compensation  for  the  many  good  and  true  things 
which  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  hear  you  say. 

What  do  I  think  of  your  work?  Well,  I 
think  nothing  succeeds  like  success,  and  I  re- 
gard you  as  an  enemy  of  all  unrighteousness. 
Please  accept  my  best  wishes  for  your  success, 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


^95 


and  believe  that  so  long  as  you  continue  stead- 
fast, I  shall  hold  you  in  the  highest  esteem. 
In  the  hope  of  eternal  life,  I  am, 

Very  respectfully,    Frank  L.  Henderson. 

lyANSiNG,  Mich.,  Nov.  22,  1889. 

Brother  W11.1.S, — Having  attended  your 
gospel  meetings  every  night  so  far,  I  wish  to 
say  that  you  have  preached  the  gospel  of  our 
Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ  as  I  have  never 
heard  it  preached  before,  so  plain,  that  all  poor 
people,  like  myself,  could  understand  it. 

I  can  say  that  I  have  learned  more  of  God 
and  the  Bible  than  I  ever  learned  before.  May 
God  bless  you  and  your  family  and  Brother  Stuart ! 

Accept  this  mite,  this  one  dollar  which  I  send 
you,  and  the  Lord  prosper  you  in  your  great 
work!  By  the  help  of  the  Lord  we  will  meet  in 
heaven.    Until  then,  I  remain,  yours  for  Jesus, 

ChAS.  M.  PULCIFER, 
Member  of  Central  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 

and  member  ot  the  Church  of  God. 

Lansing,  Mich.,  Nov.  21,  1889. 

H.  O.  W11.1.S : 

Dear  Sir, — The  position  of  an  evangelist 
or  preacher  of  the  gospel  is  one   to  be  en- 


196 


TWICE  BORN. 


vied.  At  peace  with  his  God,  doing  fully  his  serv- 
ice, his  own  heart  approving  his  work,  he  ought 
to  be  happy.       Yours  truly, 

Charles  H.  Thompson. 
"  The  Lord  bless  thee  and  keep  thee."  The 
Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  thee,  and  be  gra- 
cious unto  thee."  "  The  Lord  lift  up  his  counte- 
nance upon  thee,  and  give  thee  peace."  (Num- 
bers vi,  24,  25,  26.)       Ada  Beli.  Thompson. 

Lansing,  Mich.,  Nov.  20,  1889. 
H.  O.  W., — This  poor  old  pen  of  mine  can 
never  write  and  tell  you  what  blessings  I  have 
received  in  the  last  four  weeks  from  your  teach- 
ing, and  my  prayer  will  forever  be  that  you  may 
always  have  success  in  teaching  the  love  of  Christ 
to  sinners. 

From  one  that  loves  Christ, 

Mrs.  SchuIvTz. 

North  Lansing,  Mich. 
Brother  Wills, — Preach  plain,  be  in  ear- 
nest; it  is  through  your  earnestness  that  I  have 
been  brought  out  of  darkness  into  light. 

Taffy  is  good,  but  it  will  not  save  souls.  May 
God  bless  your  work,  is  the  prayer  of 

D.  A.  OCTELL. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


'  197 


Lansing,  Mich. 

Dear  Brother  Wills, — I  want  to  criticise 
a  little.  I  think  you  give  the  rich  man  a  little 
too  much  praise  for  doing  part  of  his  duty.  I 
know  one  poor  woman  in  particular — an  earnest 
Christian  (and  there  are  others  not  far  behind 
her) — that  has  a  drunkard  for  a  husband,  and  he 
opposes  her  in  everything  that  is  good.  She  has 
been  to  the  meetings  nearly  every  night,  and 
every  five-cent  piece  she  gives  would  cover  Be- 
ment's  check  so  that  you  could  n't  see  the  corners 
sticking  out  from  under  it. 

Go  on,  Brother  Wills  ;  you  are  doing  a  glorious 
work.  I  stood  by  you  the  first  night  you  came 
to  Ivansing,  and  am  going  to  stand  by  you  till 
the  last  night,  and  then  keep  right  on  fighting 
the  devil,  whether  he  is  in  the  Church  or  in  the 
saloon. 

Praise  the  Lord  !  I  am  a  poor  man,  and  this 
campaign  has  cost  me  more  than  ten  dollars,  but 
I  feel  it  is  well  laid  out  in  this  grand  work. 
Glory  to  God ! 

The  Lord  be  with  you  wherever  you  go. 
Praise  his  holy  name  ! 

Your  brother  in  Christ  Jesus,  now  and  for- 
ever, Addison  Childs. 


TWICE  BORN. 


Brother  and  Sister  Wills, — I  send  a 
small  offering,  not  as  a  recompense  for  what 
you  have  done  for  me,  for  money  or  words  can 
not  express  what  I  owe  to  you.  You  have 
taught  me  the  way  of  life  more  perfectly  than  I 
ever  knew  it  before,  and  may  God  reward  you 
with  his  choicest  blessings !  Your  banners  have 
been  very  instructive  to  me.  If  I  had  the  means 
I  would  like  to  give,  as  an  offering  to  you,  the 
price  of  the  banner  representing  the  human  heart. 
It  is  indelibly  written  on  memory's  pages,  and 
it  has  shown  me  the  sinfulness  of  my  heart  as 
I  never  saw  it  before,  and  has  taught  me  what  I 
must  overcome  if  I  would  be  acceptable  in  God's 
sight.  May  God  help  you  to  present  it  to  others, 
that  it  may  lead  many  to  Christ ! 

From  your  friend,  Sarah  Ransom. 


WII.LS  AT  EAST  SAGINAW. 

East  Saginaw,  Dec.  19,  1888. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — I  have  not  written 
Brother  Carnalia  ;  stand  by  your  colors,  and  God 
will  give  you  the  victory. 

Grant  said  to  his  men:  '''■Forward^  inarch! 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


199 


Forward^  march  !  Forward^  fozmrd P''  He  never 
allowed  anything  to  stop  liina — cannons,  bombs, 
grape-shot,  fire,  water,  storms,  death,  groans, 
suffering — all  the  same,  forward.  You  have  got 
Christ  with  you,  and  God  bless  you.  You  have 
got  the  stuff,  saiid. 

I  would  like  to  go,  but  can  not ;  it  is  impos- 
sible ;  so  many  things  to  do  to  close  up  the  year. 
In  haste.  G.  W.  Stevens. 

Bast  Saginaw,  Mich.,  Feb.  18,  1889. 

Dear  Brother  Wills, — I  noticed  by  the 
papers  that  you  thitmped  the  whey  out  of  some 
dirty  dog  on  the  street-car,  who  was  perse- 
cuting you.  Glory  to  God!  I  am  glad  to  know 
that  there  is  one  minister  who,  if  necessary,  will 
fight  to  defend  the  religion  of  our  blessed  Savior. 

Men  take  up  arms  and  shoot  the  enemies  of 
our  country  and  government  like  dogs.  People 
are  not  allowed  to  persecute  any  country,  gov- 
ernment, or  nation.  If  they  do,  they  must  suffer. 
The  devil  in  this  Dalton,  whom  you  licked,  got 
beat  with  his  own  weapons.  Now,  do  n't  worry 
about  this.  Any  Christian  man  on  God's  universe 
will  say  you  did  right ;  you  defended  the  relig- 


200 


TWICE  BORN. 


ion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  God  loves  you  better 
for  it. 

If  you  will  lick  the  devil  out  of  some  more 
such  cattle,  they  will  leave  you  alone,  and  in 
doing  it  you  are  defending  your  profession  against 
the  onslaughts  of  the  dirty  devils  that  are 
in  men. 

Glory  to  God  !  go  in,  old  boy.   Do  n't  weaken. 
They  would  put  you  back  in  the  gutter  if  they 
could,  and  then  jeer  and  laugh  at  you.    If  you 
are  fined,  draw  on  me  for  the  money.    In  haste. 
Your  brother,  G.  W.  Stevens. 


WILLS  AT  OWOSSO. 

Owosso,  Mich.,  Dec.  i6,  1889. 
Mr.  H.  O.  Wills  : 

Brother, — Your  meetings  were  highly  ap- 
preciated by  myself  and  family. 

I  regret  that  you  are  about  to  leave  us  ;  you 
have  explained  the  Word  of  God  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  there  can  be  no  excuse  for  either  the 
old  or  the  young  to  misunderstand  it. 

I  wish  to  God  there  were  more  men  like  your- 
self and   Brother  Stewart.    You  will  long  be 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


201 


remembered  by  myself  and  family.  God  is  your 
guide  and  protector  in  your  good  work. 

Your  brother,  John  I.  Mackey. 

Owosso,  Mich,,  Dec.  i6,  1889. 

Brother  H.  O.  Wills, — I  thank  God  and 
you  for  the  truths  you  have  spoken,  and  of"  the 
many  things  you  have  shown  us  in  the  Bible. 
I  love  my  Bible,  but  the  light  I  have  received 
by  your  lessons  makes  it  seem  doubly  dear. 

If  we  never  meet  again  on  this  earth,  I  want 
to  live  so  as  to  meet  in  heaven. 

O,  pray  for  me  as  I  will  pray  for  myself! 
With  respect,       Mrs.  Elleoi  Stuart. 

Owosso,  Mich. 
Brother  Wills, — Those  Bible-lessons  you 
gave  have  been  a  great  help  to  me.    May  God 
Bless  you  for  your  labors  in  South  Owosso  ! 
Yours  truly,  Mrs.  S.  R.  Horner. 


WILLS  AT  FLUSHING. 

Flushing,  Mich.,  Feb.  8,  1889. 
Mr.  H.  O.  ^ills  : 

Dear  Sir, — I  can  not  find  words  to  express 
my  heart-felt  thanks  for  the  good  you  have  been 


202 


TWICE  BORN. 


to  me,  through  this  revival.  God  has  sent  you 
to  do  his  work;  and  through  you,  by  the  help 
of  God,  I  am  saved. 

Please  accept  my  offering,  which  is  the  iron- 
work on  your  banner-pole,  and  twenty-five  cents. 
I  hope,  with  God's  help,  never  to  forget  your 
goodness  to  me. 

Thomas  McKenzie,  Blacksmith. 

Flushing,  Mich.,  Feb.  9,  1889. 
Brother  and  Sister, — I  can  not  express 
myself  in  your  behalf.  You  have  brightened 
our  home  and  cheered  our  hearts,  and  taught  us 
many  good  lessons,  which  we  are  all  thankful 
for.    Please  remember  us  in  your  prayers. 

Yours  truly,  Anna  Root. 

Flushing,  Mich.,  Feb.  10,  1889. 

Mr.  Wills, — I  write  you  these  few  lines  to 
tell  you  that  I  have  enjoyed  the  meetings  very 
much.  I  think  your  banners  and  the  lesson 
they  taught  us  are  very  wonderful,  and  I  shall 
never  forget  them. 

I  did  not  exactly  like  your  ways  when  I  first 
heard  you  speak ;  but  after  the  first  prayer-meet- 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


203 


ing  I  attended,  I  changed  my  mind,  and  did  not 
notice  your  way  of  speaking.  I  did  get  angry 
at  things  you  said,  and  I  knew  you  meant  me, 
because  I  thought  I  deserved  it ;  and  you  speak- 
ing to  us  three  girls  as  you  did,  showed  me  just 
where  I  stood  and  what  my  duty  was,  and  I 
thank  you  for  it.       Yours  respectfully, 

AivLiE  Ingham. 

F1.USHING,  Mich.,  Feb.  10,  1889. 
Mr.  H.  O.  W11.LS : 

Dear  Sir, — I  am  very  grateful  to  you  for 
your  seeming  harshness,  as  I  know  this  was  the 
means  by  which  I  was  shown  that  I  was  stand- 
ing on  very  dangerous  ground.  May  God  ever 
bless  you!  Yours  sincerely, 

Nkttik  Phelps. 

Flushing,  Mich,  Feb.  10,  1889. 

Dear  Mr.  Wills, — I  am  so  glad  and  thank- 
ful that  I  have  known  you. 

I  know  that  I  needed  just  such  harsh  words 
as  you  have  spoken,  to  show  me  where  I  stood. 
In  all  the  things  that  you  have  said,  that  which 


204 


TWICE  BORN. 


touclied  me  the  most,  was  when  you  said  that 
"we  were  spitting  in  God's  face.''  I  saw  my- 
self then  as  I  never  did  before.  Again  I  thank 
you,  and  that  God  may  ever  bless  you  and  your 
wife,  will  be  my  earnest  prayer. 

Your  faithful  friend,        Jennie  Benham. 

Flushing,  Mich.,  Feb.  lo,  1889.  " 

Dear  Brother  Wills, — For  a  long  time  I 
have  been  seeking  for  more  love  for  God's  Word, 
and  more  power  in  teaching  it,  and  have  been 
almost  in  despair  because  I  have  not  gained 
what  I  sought. 

I  can  not  thank  God  enough  that  he  sent  you 
to  teach  me  how  to  feed  on  the  Word.  I  can 
never  forget  it,  for  my  Bible  is  marked,  "  H-O-W 
to  find  the  bread  of  life,"  ''H-O-W-to  be  filled 
with  power,"  and  so  on  through  all  the  lessons 
you  have  given  us.  I  know  I  shall  be  more 
meet  for  his  use  through  the  help  you  have 
given  me,  and  I  shall  strive  to  pass  it  on  to  all 
within  my  reach. 

May  God  ever  keep  you  and  your  good  wife 
full  of  his  love !  Lizzie  Kent. 


//.  a  WILLS. 


205 


Flushing,  Mich.,  Feb.  10,  1889. 

Dear  Brother  and  Sister, — Inclosed  is  a 
small  token  from  a  heart  which  would  willingly 
give  more  if  I  had  it  at  hand.  If  it  had  been 
a  week  later,  I  could  have  done  better.  I  have 
all  your  banners,  for  they  have  all  taught  me  a 
blessed  lesson,  which  I  shall  never  forget. 

If  I  chance  to  meet  you  again,  I  will  make  up 
to  you  for  the  good  you  have  done  for  me.  I 
shall  never  forget  you  or  Mrs.  Wills,  and  am 
very  sorry  you  are  going  away. 

I  wish  you  could  stay  all  this  week,  but  friends 
must  part.  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  what  you 
have  taught  me,  and  remain. 

Yours  truly,        Mrs.  Anna  Graves. 

Flushing. — From  the  Pastor  of  First  Baptist 
Church. 

Dear  Brother  and  Sister  Wills, — I  shall 
ever  thank  God  for  these  few  days  that  have 
brought  us  together  in  Christian  work.  I  have 
learned  to  love  you  dearly  during  this  short 
time,  because  I  see  in  you  the  love  of  Jesus. 
There  are  family  features  that  mark  you  as  one 
of  my  Father's  children. 


2o6 


TWICE  BORN. 


I  can  not  tell  how  much  good  you  have  done 
me,  both  in  respect  to  my  own  Christian  life,  and 
in  respect  to  my  work  for  Christ. 

I  expect  to  be  a  better  Christian  and  a  better 
minister,  because  of  the  hours  spent  in  your  so- 
ciety. May  God  bless  you  with  heaven's  richest 
blessings,  and  crown  your  life  with  the  greatest 
success!  is  my  prayer.  Do  n't  forget  to  pray  for 
me,  that  I  may  learn  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and 
be  wise  to  win  souls. 

Accept  this  small  offering  from  myself  and 
wife,  not  as  the  measure  of  our  love  for  you  and  for 
our  common  Savior,  but  as  a  small  token  of  that 
love.    I  wish  it  were  ten  times  the  amount  it  is. 

Yours  in  the  closest  bonds  of  Christian  love, 
L.  B.  Pettit. 

Flushing,  Mich. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — Please  accept  the 
inclosed  as  a  small  token  of  my  appreciation  of 
your  labors  among  us  in  Flushing.  You  have 
done  us  great  good,  and  I  know  the  Master  will 
amply  reward  you.  My  whole  family  join  in 
warmest  regards  to  you  and  your  noble  wife. 
Your  brother,  Joseph  Frazer. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


207 


Brother  Wills, — Please  find  inclosed  a  few 
stamps.    I  wish  it  were  possible  to  send  more. 

I  shall  always  bless  the  day  you  came  to 
Flushing.  Your  sermon  showing  how  the  dia- 
mond was  polished,  vshowed  me  why  I  have  had 
to  endure  so  much  chastening  ;  but,  by  God's 
grace,  I  will  suffer  patiently  as  a  true  Christian. 
I  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  yester- 
day.   Praise  God.  Mrs.  M.  S.  Hall. 

Flushing,  Mich.,  Feb.  8,  1889. 
Brother  Wills, — May  our  Father  in  heaven 
reward  you  for  the  unceasing  labor  for  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners!  is  the  prayer  of  your  sister  in 
Christ.  Mrs.  T.  T.  Rogers. 

Brother  and  Sister  Wills, — Please  ac- 
cept my  offering  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents, 
with  the  prayer  that  you  may  have  many  stars 
in  your  crown,  on  account  of  souls  won  to  Jesus. 

Your  Sister  in  Christ. 

Brother  Wills, — I  inclose  two  dollars,  as  a 
thank-offering  for  the  gratitude  I  hold  in  my  heart 
for  what  you  have  been  instrumental,  in  the  hands 
of  God,  in  doing  for  me.         D.  W.  Turner. 


2o8 


TWICE  BORN. 


WILI.S  AT  VERNON. 

Vernon,  Mich.,  March  24,  1889. 
Brother  Wills, — I  like  your  style  of  teach- 
ing the  word  of  God  with  your  charts.  They 
are  a  sermon  of  themselves.  You  preach  a 
heaven  and  a  hell.  I  have  always  believed  in  re- 
wards and  punishments.  I  have  learned  to  love 
you  as  a  brother.  I  have  been  fed  as  never  man 
fed  me  before,  and  may  God  bless  you  for  it!  I 
shall  always  think  of  you  with  pleasure. 

John  Q.  Davids. 

Vernon,  Mich.,  March  26,  1889. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — My  prayer  for  you 
is  that  the  grace  of  God  our  Father,  and  his  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit  may  fill  thy  heart  to  overflowing; 
that  your  strength  may  endure ;  that  you  may  be 
a  power  in  the  hand  of  God,  in  saving  a  million 
of  souls !    From  your  brother  in  Christ, 

A.  W.  Nichols. 

Vernon,  Mich.,  March  23,  1889. 
Dear  Brother  and  Sister  Wills, — We 
thank  God  that  you  ever  came  among  us  to 
preach  the  Word  in  all  its  purity  I 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


209 


May  your  labor  be  as  "  bread  cast  upon  the 
waters!"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  Holmdkn. 

Vernon,  Mich.,  March  24,  1889. 
Dear  Brother  and  Sister  Wills  in 
Christ, — We  do  thank  you  for  coming  to  Ver- 
non and  using  the  gospel  lash.  We  have  taken 
what  belongs  to  us,  and  have  received  no  more 
than  we  were  deserving  of.  Our  spiritual 
strength  has  been  renewed ;  and  as  we  have  list- 
ened to  the  teaching  of  God's  Word,  we  have 
received  light,  and  feel  that  we  have  Christ 
crowned  within  us.  Be  not  discouraged,  brother 
and  sister,  though  the  clouds  look  black  and 
heavy.  Go  forward !  Discharge  your  duty !  My 
prayer  is  that  you  may  be  led  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
into  the  realm  of  bliss,  where  Jesus  reigns  with- 
out a  rival,  and  where  all  the  heart-forces  are 
united  in  the  willing  service  of  the  King  of 
kings.  Yours  fraternally. 

C.  AND  E.  Huff. 

Vernon,  Mich. 

Mr.  AND  Mrs.  H.  O.  Wills  : 

Dear  Friends, — We  desire  to  express  our 

thanks  to  you  for  your  efforts  to  present  the 
18 


210 


TWICE  BORN. 


gospel  in  a  plain  manner ;  also,  that  you  have 
taught  us  to  search  the  Scriptures,  that  we  may 
have  eternal  life.  Although  we  have  walked  in 
this  narrow  way  since  childhood,  and  have  lived 
as  near  Jesus  as  we  knew  how,  we  are  deter- 
mined, by  the  help  of  God,  to  live  nearer  than 
ever  before.  We  have  regretted  very  much  that 
we  could  not  attend  the  afternoon  meetings, 
but  our  position  as  teachers  prevented  us  from 
doing  so. 

We  think  the  charts  a  good  way  of  present- 
ing the  truth ;  for  one  can  understand  what  he 
sees  better  than  what  he  hears  only. 

May  God  bless  and  help  you  in  your  work! 
is  our  prayer. 

AiviviK  Van  Akin  and  Jennie  Sheldon. 


WILI.S  AT  CHEIvSKA. 

Chelsea,  Mich.,  April  15,  1889. 
To  Brother  H.  O.  Wiees: 

Dear  Brother, — May  God  help  and  bless 
you  in  your  work!  is  the  prayer  of  your  friend. 
God  grant  that  you  will  remember  me  in  your 
prayers!  and  I  will  pray  for  you  and  for  my- 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


211 


self.  I  can  say  that  I  thank  God  for  sending 
you  to  Chelsea ;  for  it  has  brought  me  nearer  to 
my  Lord  and  Master  than  ever  before  ;  and  may 
God  give  you  strength  to  preach  the  gospel  ac- 
cording to  his  Word,  which  I  know  you  do,  as 
I  have  followed  you  through  all  your  Scriptural 
lessons. 

May  God  bless  you !  Please  accept  this 
small  offering  from  your  friends, 

Byron  and  Matilda  Wight. 

Chelsea,  April  14,  1889. 

To    MY  BELOVED   BROTHER,    H.    O.  WiLLS, 

who  led  me  a  sinner  from  the  path  of  sin  to  the 
path  of  righteousness,  and  brought  comfort  to 
our  earthly  home :  I  pray  that  God  may  reward 
him  in  heaven,  and  that  we  may  all  meet  in 
that  new  Jerusalem. 

John  R.  Thomas. 

Chelsea,  Mich. 
Brother  Wills, — I  do  believe  you  are  a 
sincere,  true  Christian,  and  that  good  has  and 
zmll  attend  your  work  here  in  Chelsea,  and  that 
it  will  continue  to  bear  fruit  after  you  are  gone. 


212 


TWICE  BORN. 


I  like  your  pictures  and  plan  of  working.  You 
have  done  me  and  my  family  good;  and  if  I 
may  say  a  word,  it  would  be,  Hurl  as  much 
Scripture  at  the  wrong-doer  as  you  can ;  put  it 
on  thicker  and  faster  and  more  of  it.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  God."  But  do  n't  waste  one 
precious  moment  scolding  them.  It  is  not 
right  to  hold  it  against  them  when  Jesus  said, 
"Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do."  Yours  truly,. 

-  B.  L.  Freer. 

CHKI.SKA,  April  14,  1889. 
Brother  H.  O.  Wills, — May  God  bless  you 
for  what  you  have  done,  with  his  help,  in  sav- 
ing my  father  and  me  ! 

God  bless  you  and  crown  you  with  success! 

Miss  Lizzie  Page. 

Chelsea,  April  14,  1889. 

Mr.  H.  O.  Wills  : 

Dear  Brother, — I  am  sure  that  one  who 
is  so  zealous  in  the  cause  of  our  Master  as  your- 
self will  hear,  Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant,"  at  the  last  great  day. 

Emma  R.  Kempf. 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


213 


WII.LS  AT  SAUGATUCK. 

JUI.Y  13,  1889. 

Dkar  Brother, — You  gave  us  envelopes  to 
fill  with  good  news ;  and  we  do  jointly  agree 
with  God  to  hold  you  up  to  the  throne  of  grace, 
that  you  may  continue  on,  and  become  such  a 
servant  for  God  that  you  can  bring  souls  to  him 
by  the  thousands,  with  your  banners  and  the 
way  you  have  explained  God's  Word  to  us. 

We  have  looked  into  our  hearts,  and  have 
seen  the  dark  corners  that  were  there,  and  by 
God's  help  we  are  willing  to  obey  his  laws. 
Brother,  you  have  done  us  a  wonderful  sight  of 
good,  and  it  is  through  faith  that  we  do  believe 
that  God  has  chosen  you  as  a  teacher.  May 
our  Heavenly  Fathci  bless  you,  and  put  into 
your  mouth  words  sharper  than  a  two-edged 
sword,  that  may  send  the  truth  home  to  the 
poor  sinner's  heart ;  and  that  he  will  give  up 
and  do  as  we  have  done,  and  say,  "Father,  be 
merciful  to  me,  a  sinner." 

May  God  be  with  you  and  bless  you!  is  our 
prayer.  Amen. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  D.  Mykrs. 


214 


TWICE  BORN. 


Saugatuck,  Mich.,  July  13,  1889. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — God  bless  you  in 
your  work !    With  all  my  heart  do  I  indorse 
you;  and  have,  with  God's  blessing,  profited 
from  the  Bible  teachings. 

Mrs.  J.  Q.  Nies. 

Saugatuck,  Mich.,  July  13,  1889. 
Mr.  Wills,  Brother  in  Christ  : 

We  have  no  criticisms  to  make.  We  do 
thank  you  for  making  the  Bible  so  plain  to  us, 
and  also  our  duty  to  God. 

Please  accept  what  we  are  able  to  give.  It 
is  freely  given,  and  we  only  wish  we  had  more 
to  give. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Carmon. 


WIIvIvS  AT  NEW  I.OTHROP. 

New  Lothrop,  Mich.,  January  13,  1889. 
Please  accept  this  small  amount  of  money. 
I  wish  it  was  ten  times  as  much.  I  believe  that 
money  in  your  hands,  through  God,  will  be  the 
means  of  doing  a  wonderful  amount  of  good. 
Praise  God  that  his  Spirit  led   you  to  New 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


215 


IvOthrop  !  The  good  yon,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
have  brought  to  this  place,  can  not  be  told  in 
words;  and  the  prayers  of  my  wife  and  myself 
are,  that  God  will  keep  you,  and  bless  you  and 
yours ;  and  that  wherever  you  go,  success  may 
attend  you  in  winning  souls  to  Christ.  Your 
way  of  working  just  suits  us. 

Yours,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  O'Dell. 

New  IVOTHROP,  Mich.,  Jan.  19,  1889. 
Brother  H.  O.  W1EI.S, — May  God  give  you 
great  power  and  strength  to  perform  the  duties 
which  he  has  laid  out  for  you  to  do  ! 

We  thank  God  that  he  ever  showed  you  where 
to  carry  the  worms  when  fishing  for  the  souls  of 
men.    All  honor  and  praise  be  to  his  hol}^  name  ! 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Davis. 

New  Lothrop,  Mich.,  Jan.  20,  1889. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wiees  : 

Dear  Brother  and  Sister  in  Christ, — 
May  you  long  live  to  do  good  and  win  souls  to 
God,  ever  keeping  thyself  humble  before  God, 
and  when  your  work  on  earth  is  done,  may  you 
be  gathered  safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus!  is  my 
prayer. 


2l6 


TWICE  BORN. 


Remember  me  and  mine  at  the  throne  of  our 
common  Lord ;  when  you  think  of  us,  think  of 
us  kindly.  Good-bye. 

Mr.   and  Mrs.  J.  H.  Bailey. 


WILLS  AT  PERRY. 

Perry,  Mich.,  March  4,  1889. 
Brother  Wills, — Your  banners  and  expla- 
nations have  made  the  way  to  live  plainer  than 
it  ever  was  before.    I  can  not  tell  how  much  good 
you  have  done  us. 

May  God  bless  you  in  your  noble  work  of 
bringing  souls  to  Christ ! 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Summers. 

Perry,  Mich.,  March  2,  1889. 

Dear  Brother  and  Sister  Wills, — We 
feel  as  though  we  never  could  pay  you  for  the 
lessons  you  have  taught  us.  These  lessons  have 
opened  our  eyes  to  see  ourselves  as  God  sees  us. 

Those  banners  have  taught  us  more  about  the 
Bible  than  we  ever  heard  in  all  our  lives  before, 
and  we  have  been  taught  it  from  infancy. 

We  want  you  to  always  remember  us  in  your 
prayers.    May  the  Lord  ever  bless  you  with  an 


//.  O.  WILLS. 


abundant  harvest,  and  a  crown  with  many  shin- 
ing stars!    Ever  yours, 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Haskin. 

Perry,  Mich.,  March  3,  1889. 
Brother  Wills, — Your  coming  to  Perry  has 
shown  me  just  where  I  stood;  your  Bible-les- 
sons have  been  a  great  help  to  me. 

May  our  God  bless  you  and  your  dear  wife 
every  day  you  live  !  is  the  earnest  prayer  of  your 
humble  sister  in  Christ, 

Mrs.  Bella  C.  West. 

Perry,  Mich.,  March  4,  1889. 

Mr.  H.  O.  Wills  : 

Dear  Brother, — You  have  been  the  instru- 
ment in  God's  hands  of  saving  my  soul.  And 
I  pray  that  the  spirit  of  the  Holy  Ghost  may  rest 
and  abide  with  you  and  yours  forever  and  forever. 

I  have  started  out  to  serve  Christ,  and  am 
determined,  by  God's  help,  to  at  last  gain  a  home 
in  heaven.    Pray  for  me. 

Yours  in  Christ,       Lillian  Dalrymple. 

Perry,  Mich.,  March  22,  1889. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — O,  I  am  so  thank- 
ful that  you  came  here  and  brought  your  ban- 
19 


2l8 


TWICE  BORN. 


ners,  you  have  done  so  much  for  myself,  wife, 
and  boy.  We  never  saw  the  light  as  we  see  it 
to-day.  Brother- Wills,  please  carry  the  news  to 
Vernon  that  Hiram  Hosmer  and  wife  have  come 
out  on  the  side  of  the  Lord.  It  may  be  the 
means  of  helping  to  bring  some  poor  soul  to  God, 
for  I  lived  in  Vernon  twelve  years. 

May  God  ever  bless  you  and  your  good  wife ! 

Mary  A.  Hosmer. 

WII.LS  AT  LUZERNE. 
Luzerne,  Mich.,  March  14,  1888. 
Dear  Brother, — Accept  this  offering  from 
a  sister  in  Christ,  if  she  is  a  washer-woman,  for 
the  good  you  have  done  in  Luzerne.    May  God 
bless  and  keep  you !         Mrs.  John  Smead. 

Feint,  Mich. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — Please  accept  this 
from  a  washer-woman.    My  heart  and  hands  are 
with  you  in  your  glorious  work.    God  bless  you. 
Remember  me  in  your  prayers. 

Anna  Tupper. 

Luzerne,  March  14,  1888. 
My  Dear  Friend  in  the  Lord  (for  I  verily 
believe  you  are  a  child  of  the  Lord), — I  write  you 


H.  O.  IVILLS. 


219 


a  few  lines.  I  am  quite  well  in  the  body,  and 
much  better  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  than  I  was 
when  you  left  here.  Tell  my  wife  the  Lord  is 
with  me  night  and  day.  Bless  the  Lord  !  I 
have  a  few  things  to  confess  to  God  and  the 
Church  and  all  the  people,  which  have  been 
hidden  in  my  heart  for  eighteen  years.  No  one 
knew  of  them  but  God  and  myself. 

Eighteen  years  ago,  this  spring,  there  were 
five  children  sick  with  the  scarlet  fever ;  they 
all  died  except  one,  a  boy.  That  boy  had  a 
good  Christian  mother,  and  she,  no  doubt,  offered 
up  many  a  prayer,  and  shed  many  tears,  so  that 
God  would  save  her  little  boy  from  death.  The 
father  of  this  little  boy  was  a  sinful  man,  though, 
sinful  as  he  was,  he  prayed  to  the  Almighty 
God,  and  made  a  solemn  promise  that  if  God 
would  save  his  child's  life,  he  would  serve  him 
all  the  rest  of  his  days.  The  boy  lived,  and  is 
alive  to-day.  The  father  is  the  one  who  is  writing 
to  you,  and  the  mother  is  my  dear  Christian  wife. 
I  have  been  afraid  many  times  that  God  would 
cut  me  down  like  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  I  have 
kept  back  part  of  the  price.  This  will  be  news 
to  my  wife,  as  I  never  told  her  of  the  promise  I 


220 


TWICE  BORN. 


made  God.  How  good  the  Lord  has  been  to 
spare  me  till  the  present  time  !  His  spirit  has 
been  striving  with  me  all  these  years,  and  I  would 
not  yield  to  it  until  now.  What  a  wonderful 
and  most  merciful  God  he  is !  O,  brother,  I 
can 't  praise  him  enough  !  I  hope  and  pray  that 
this  letter  I  am  writing  to  you,  if  you  read  it  to 
the  people  where  you  go,  will  bring  some  poor 
wanderer  back  to  his  Father's  house.  It  is  my 
desire,  if  you  see  fit  and  think  it  is  proper,  that 
you  should  read  this  letter  to  the  people  of  Sandy 
Hill.  I  want  the  world  to  know  how  good 
God  is  to  his  children,  and  how  good  he  has 
been  to  me  and  my  family.  See  how  he  has 
spared  me  !  I  believe  it  is  for  some  good  pur- 
pose. The  Lord  has  many  ways  to  bring  about 
his  work  and  his  will  among  the  children  of  men. 
I  hope  the  steps  I  have  taken,  and  my  prayers, 
may  be  the  means  of  turning  many  poor  sinners 
to  God.  Not  that  I  have  done  any  good  myself, 
but  it  is  God's  Spirit  working  in  me.  I  can  say 
truly  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord,  is  in  my  soul  this 
blessed  morning,  making  me  do  his  will.  I  find 
many  blessed  promises  in  his  holy  Word  to  sustain 
and  keep  me.    I  am  sixty-four  years  old  in  the  - 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


221 


world,  and  ten  days  old  in  the  Lord.  Bless  his  holy 
name  !  Let  me  hear  how  you  are  getting  on 
with  your  meetings.  May  God  bless  you,  and 
let  you  see  his  work  being  done  in  Sandy  Hili 
before  you  leave  that  place  ! 

From  your  brother  in  the  Lord, 

P.  C.  SCOVILL. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 
Sandy  H11.1.,  N.  Y.,  April  3,  1888. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — It  is  with  untold 
gratitude  that  I  thank  God  for  sending  you  to 
this  place  to  redeem  my  lost  soul.  Dear  brother, 
your  banners  are  wonderful.  The  man  who  can 
not  read  can  understand  them.  My  earnest 
prayer  is,  God  bless  you,  and  give  you  means 
to  spread  the  gospel  news.    God  bless  Mrs.  Wills. 

Joel  F.  Dickinson. 

Sandy  Hill,  N.  Y.,  March  31,  1888. 
Dear  Brother  Wills, — After  more  than 
three  weeks  of  evangelistic  work  in  my  Church, 
I  take  great  pleasure  in  expressing  to  you  my 
appreciation  of  you  as  a  Christian  worker.  I 
have  been  instructed  in  the  Word  of  God,  helped 


222 


TWICE  BORN. 


in  methods,  and  certainly  God  has  honored  your 
labors  among  us  in  a  remarkable  manner.  May 
your  efficiency  increase  as  the  years  go  by ! 
Wherever  you  may  go,  my  prayers  shall  follow 
you,  that  God  will  bless  you,  and  that  some- 
time the  desire  of  your  heart  may  be  realized 
in  an  income  that  will  enable  you  to  start  the 
missions  you  desire. 

Your  brother  and  co-laborer  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord,  C.  Edwards, 

Pastor  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Brent  Creek,  January  20,  1888. 
Rev.  H.  O.  Wills, — May  your  efforts  be 
crowned  by  the  acknowledgment  of  your  Maker ! 
is  my  best  wish  for  you  and  the  cause  you  are 
engaged  in.  Yours  respectfully, 

E.  A.  Bailky. 

MoRRicE,  Mich.,  March  3d. 
Dear  Brother, — I  will  say  as  Paul  said 
to  the  Philippian  brethren :  "  My  God  shall 
supply  all  your  needs,  according  to  his  riches  in 
glory  by  Christ  Jesus."  I  shall  never  forget  your 
banners  of  the  shipwreck  and  the  Christian  sol- 


H.  O.  WILLS. 


223 


dier.  Pray  for  me  that  I  may  always  wear  this 
Christian  armor. 

Your  sister  in  Christ, 

Mrs.  B.  a.  McDivit. 

Roscommon,  Mich.,  Dec.  23,  1&88. 
Brother  Wills, — Little  Ellen  Mulserhill 
willingly  gives  to  you  the  pennies  she  had  saved 
for  Christmas.    God  bless  you. 

Sharon,  Mich.,  April  21,  1889. 
H.  O.  Wills,  Detroit,  Mich  : 

Dear  Brother, — Received  your  picture. 
Myself  and  family  were  very  much  pleased  that 
you  so  kindly  remembered  us,  although  we  have 
been  slow  in  expressing  our  pleasure  at  the  re- 
ceipt of  them.  We  should  be  very  glad  to  have 
a  visit  from  yourself  and  wife  at  any  time.  I  will 
meet  you  at  Grass  Lake  any  convenient  date. 

When  I  think  of  the  past,  I  think  your  con- 
version truly  one  of  God's  miracles. 

Your  visit  strengthened  and  helped  us  much. 
God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again. 

With  many  good  wishes  from  myself  and 
family,  I  remain  your  friend  in  Jesus, 

J.  R.  Leman. 


WORDS  BY  CHAS.  B.  HOWELL 
Tune:  "In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I  Glory." 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  DETROIT  WHITE  CROSS  REFORM  CLUB. 


Up  above  the  clouds  and  darkness, 
Up  alDove  the  blinding  mist, 

Lo!  the  cross  so  white  is  lifted — 
By  the  Son  of  God 't  is  kissed. 

To  the  one  whose  life  is  smitten 
By  the  curse  whose  end  is  death, 

Lo!  his  white  cross,  pure  and  holy. 
Comes  with  heaven's  healing  breath. 

Lives  are  blasted;  men  are  dying; 

Lo,  the  world  is  full  of  strife. 
Look  upon  this  holy  symbol — 

Take  new  heart,  and  hope,  and  life! 

From  his  throne  the  pitying  Savior 
Came,  and  "hung  upon  the  tree." 

Bitterest  agony  he  suffered — 
Yes,  he  died — "he  died  for  me!" 
224 


